Keep holding on
by Shizuko-chan13
Summary: Inuyasha, lead singer of Demonic, was almost completely paralyzed in a car accident. He's fired 3 PT's since getting out of the hospital and his mother's had enough. She hires Kagome, a young PT, to take care of him at home. How will things turn out?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 1**

Riiiing

"911, what's your emergency?" The operator asked.

"H-Hello?" A scared voice replied.

"Hello m'am, what's your emergency?"

"T-there's been a-an accident, I'm stuck in the limo and oh my God, I think my son is on top of me," the victim replied.

"M'am, do you know where you are?"

"I'm not sure, uh, I-I can't remember,"she said starting to panic.

"It's all right m'am, just stay calm, I'll just trace you via GPS. Help will be there soon."

"A-all right. Just please hurry up, my son is quiet and he's not waking up." She was starting to cry.

"M'am, can you move your hands? If you can, try to find a pulse either at his neck or his wrist. Can you do that for me?"

"I'll try." Some movement could be heard and after a short while, "I think I feel a pulse but I'm not sure, it's very faint. Is my son going to be all right?" She was starting to panic again.

"M'am, stay calm. Help will be there soon, can you hear the sirens?"

"Uh, yes. I can hear them, thank God." The victim sounded a little relieved.

"M'am, you said you were in a limo, can you see the driver?"

"No, my son is on top of me, I can't see anything else."

"Then try to call out his name to find out if he's okay."

"All right. Totosai? Totosai can you hear me?" She waited for a few seconds and then she heard him moan in pain.

"I think I heard him. Are they here yet? I can hear the sirens getting louder."

"They're almost there m'am, so just hold on and stay calm, okay? Help is on the way"

* * *

_This is CNN Breaking News_

"_Good evening, this is CNN Breaking News. Earlier this afternoon there was a car accident involving a black Escalade and a black limousine. What we know so far is that the black Escalade drove through a red light at high speed and rammed into the limo, which was crossing the intersection. The driver of the Escalade and the three passengers of the limousine were taken to a hospital, it is not clear which one yet. We do not have the name of the driver that caused the crash but we know for a fact that the passengers in the limousine were Inuyasha Takahashi, his mother, Izayoi Takahashi and their driver, Totosai Hamada. From what we could gather, Inuyasha is in critical condition, while his mother and his driver only had minor injuries. We do not have information on the condition of the other driver but from what we could gather from witnesses is that he did not appear to be in critical condition._

_Inuyasha Takahashi is the lead guitarist and lead vocalist of the band Demonic. This is all for now, we will keep you updated on Inuyasha Takahashi's condition."_

* * *

_All these lights are catching up to me__  
__I just can't put insomnia to sleep__  
__I close my eyes but all that I can see__  
__Is someone who I'm never gonna be__  
__I hope that you can bring me back__  
__I gotta to make it right_

_And if I fall and crash and burn__  
__At least we both know that I tried__  
__And as I crawl those lessons learned__  
__Yeah they remind me I survived__  
__Yeah, yeah, yeah_

_And I've been hurt and I've been scarred__  
__At least I know that I'm alive__  
__And if I fall and crash and burn__  
__At least we both know that I tried_

_All of the things I tried say__  
__All of the words just got in the way__  
__I'm waiting here, I need your help__  
__Don't leave me down here all by myself_

Riiiing…Riiiing

The silver haired inu-hanyou sitting in a wheelchair stopped singing and playing his guitar, he put it aside and picked up the phone.

"What!" He screamed at the person calling.

"Inuyasha! Is this how you greet your mother?"

"Oh, Mom! Sorry, I'm in a bad mood right now," he replied a sounding a little less annoyed than before.

"I bet you are. I heard you fired another physical therapist." She stated. "What happened this time?"

"I hate him, he's a terrible therapist, I can't really feel anything yet and he seemed to like to touch me a little too much and not in a good way either. The idiot didn't think I would realize what he was doing? I mean I fucking paid him to do his job not to feel me up. Besides I think he might be gay and it was just creeping me out."

His mother chuckled. "Oh well, nothing we can do I guess. Now, tell Kikyo that I'll choose your next physical therapist. You've fired three already and it's been only a month and a half since the accident. I'm beginning to think she doesn't know what she's doing or she's doing it on purpose."

"Mom, Kikyo wouldn't do that," he argued.

"Sweetie, you've only been dating her for what, 6 months now? How would you know? Let me take care of things from now on, that way we'll get you walking sooner rather than later."

Inuyasha sighed, he didn't like to argue with his mother. "Fine, Mom. But this better be a good one, I want to fucking walk already!"

"I know dear, that's why I'm butting into your business. Your doctor told me that you should be rehabilitating faster than you are now since you're a hanyou. Anyway, I better go make some calls, your doctor gave me the number of an agency, they're supposed to have the best physical therapists in the city. I'll let you know when I've hired one, okay?"

"All right Mom. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, dear." With that she hung up.

Inuyasha sighed, there was nothing to do. It was late afternoon and he was home alone. His girlfriend was out with her friends again and he just fired his physical therapist less than 30 minutes ago. 'Life sucks,' he thought to himself, and it sucked even more that he couldn't walk, although he wasn't permanently paralyzed. But he would never regret the decision to cover his mother with his body and take most of the blow from the crash. She was only human and she would have probably died if she was the one who got his injuries. Luckily she only broke her right leg. And Totosai had the least injuries, airbags really are a lifesaver. Besides, the car crashed at the back part of the limo, right where Inuyasha and his mother were sitting.

Thinking about the accident made him frustrated, the guy who caused the crash got away and the police can't find him. He was taken to the hospital but he gave a fake name and the car he drove was stolen. They only knew what he looked like, but that didn't get them far either. No one has recognized him from the sketch the police had made. To Inuyasha his face did seem familiar but he couldn't remember where or when he had seen him.

Sighing he picked up his guitar and continued playing some old songs. Just because he couldn't actually work or do anything else that required him standing up for that matter, didn't mean that he would sit around and do nothing. The least he could do was come up with a few songs, if not for his band, then for himself.

* * *

Mrs. Takahashi called the agency and set up appointments with three of their best physical therapists for the next day at her mansion.

The first two had very good recommendations from the agency, patients and other specialists but considering their personalities Mrs. Takahashi knew for sure they would not last long working for her son.

She was really hoping the last PT would be perfect for working for her son, otherwise she'd have to keep looking and the longer it took to find one, the longer it would take for Inuyasha to recover. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door of her study.

"Come in," she responded.

A maid opened the door and stepped aside to let a raven haired woman in her mid-twenties go in. "Good afternoon Mrs. Takahashi, I'm Kagome Higurashi." She said while sticking out her hand.

Mrs. Takahashi stood up and shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you Miss Higurashi. Why don't you take a seat?"

Kagome took a seat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. She took out a file out of her messenger bag and handed it to Mrs. Takahashi.

"Here is my résumé, Mrs. Takahashi. I'm not sure if the agency sent my résumé already but I brought it just in case."

"That's all right, dear. They sent me everything I need to know. So why don't you tell me something about yourself?"

"All right, well I just turned 26 last month. I have a Bachelor and Master's degree in physical therapy, I did my internship with this same rehab center and I've been working for them ever since I graduated. My father was almost completely paralyzed because of an accident about ten years ago and he has needed physical therapy ever since. That's why I still live at home, my mother and I are both his therapists, but mostly my mom since I have to work."

"Oh my, is he doing better now?"

"Yes, he can walk but not without his cane. He's still kind of stiff and it hurts a little to walk, the doctors told us he would probably need physical therapy all his life but we don't mind, the important thing is that he's walking again."

"Well I'm glad to hear he's doing good. So how many patients have you had? You seem really young and you're one of the center's best PT's."

"I have had many patients, but most of them were category C or D, only a one of them was category B which was my father. I guess he was in some way my first patient even though I didn't have a degree yet. But he was my inspiration for becoming a PT and he helped me develop my skills as well, he's very patient and very understanding and it's from him that I learned that understanding a patient is one of the keys for getting good results."

"Have some of your patients had bad tempers or were depressed?" Mrs. Takahashi asked.

Kagome chuckled a little. "Pretty much all of them were depressed and had really bad tempers, I would be concerned if they weren't. I've loved music since I can remember so I try to make them listen to music when I do therapy with my patients, music always helps me relax and in my experience it helps my patients to relax as well. Besides, that way I get to bond with the patients as well. I don't do it all the time though, only when it's necessary or at the patient's request. And we listen to all kinds of music, although I try to stick to songs that will relax the patients but I try to use music that fits the patient's personality as well. So basically I try to adjust my work to each patient while still doing things my own way."

Mrs. Takahashi smiled before asking, "Well, since you like music so much, do you know the band Demonic?"

"I think so, I might have heard a few of their songs. Why?" Kagome asked curiously.

"Well I hope you like their songs because my son is Inuyasha Takahashi, Demonic's lead guitarist and lead vocalist. And you are hired as his new PT." Mrs. Takahashi said with a smile.

"Really? I got the job? Thank you so much, I promise I will do everything I can to help your son as much as I can." Kagome replied happily.

"Well, here you have all the information you need," Mrs. Takahashi said handing Kagome a file. "You might have heard in the news that my son and I were in a car crash almost two months ago. Inuyasha's girlfriend has hired three therapists in the last month and a half but my son ended up firing all of them. I don't know where she got those PT's but I decided to hire one for him so he can actually recover faster. He hasn't made much progress so that's why I'm looking for the best and I like you and your method. Besides, I'm sure he'll like working with music, it will probably relax him a lot since he's always frustrated. And may I give you some advice?" Kagome nodded.

"Don't take everything he says seriously, he's known to have a bad temper but he has always been like that, lately he's been really frustrated with the lack of progress he's making so please be very patient with him, he's a good person, he's just always had it rough and now it's worse. All because he wanted to save me, it's my fault really that he's in his state, if he didn't cover me with his body I would probably be dead right now, but at least he would not be paralyzed." Mrs. Takahashi started crying a little.

Kagome took a tissue she carried with her and handed it to her. "Well I'm sure he did it because he loves you very much. He's a hanyou, right?"

Mrs. Takahashi nodded.

"Well then you know that thanks to his demonic blood he didn't die and he'll be able to recover faster than any human, I'll make sure of that," she said determined.

"Thank you, dear. That was very nice of you," she replied referring to the tissue. "Well then, when can you start?"

"I usually take only one patient at a time, and I just finished working with one last week, so I can start anytime."

"All right, can you start in two days? I know it's on so short notice since you'd have to pack-"

"I don't understand. What do you mean with pack?" Kagome said interrupting Mrs. Takahashi.

"Didn't they inform you? We're looking for someone who can live with him during his whole rehabilitation. You will need to take him to the rehab center everyday and when you get home help him with whatever he needs but please understand that you're not a live in maid, he knows that as well. He has a maid come in every other day to clean the house. And you'll have to discuss when you have your day off with my son. I hope it's not of any inconvenience for you."

"Uh, I would have to discuss this with my mother, I've never worked while living with a patient before so I'll let you know tonight if I'll take the job."

"It's all right, dear. Here is my number, call me when you make your decision," Mrs. Takahashi said giving her a business card.

"Thank you, I'll call you tonight then."

With that she stood up, shook Mrs. Takahashi's hand and left.

Mrs. Takahashi sighed and sat back down. She really hoped Kagome would take the job, she was one of the best of the agency, she had enough experience, she had a great personality and seemed very confident so she most likely wouldn't let anyone walk all over her. Hopefully she could put Kikyo in her place and open Inuyasha's eyes so that he could see what kind of person his girlfriend really is.

Mrs. Takahashi stood up again, took her cane and walked out of her study to go to her room to rest. Her leg was fine now but it still hurt a little when she put pressure on it so she had to use a cane for a while, at least until she could walk without pain.

She got to her room, laid on her bed and started thinking about how everything changed after the accident. She and Totosai were better off than Inuyasha when they pulled them out of the wrecked car, after hours of surgery they didn't know if Inuyasha would be able to walk again, it was known that demons healed a lot faster than humans and rarely stayed paralyzed but since Inuyasha is a half demon they weren't so sure. After conducting some tests they discovered that he wasn't completely paralyzed but he would take a long time to heal and he would need physical therapy. The same day Inuyasha got home Kikyo invited herself to live with him to 'take care' of him, but she had yet to see her doing that. Mrs. Takahashi had never really liked her and Inuyasha knew that but she never confronted her son about it, it was his life after all. But he didn't see that Kikyo was using him, everyone could see that and she was taking advantage of him being paralyzed. Mrs. Takahashi decided it was time she did something to make him realize who Kikyo really is. That's why she hired Kagome, she was a unique person, she could tell the moment she walked into her study. All she could do now was hope Kagome could help her son walk again and in the process open up his eyes to all the lies Kikyo fed him.

With that last thought she closed her eyes to rest for a while and wait for Kagome's call.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello readers, I want to thank all of those who read this story but more importantly thank you to those who reviewed, I had not expected to receive so many, I would have been happy with just one but thank you anyway, I really appreciate it. And I'm sorry it took this long to upload the second chapter, honestly I had no idea what to write in this chapter to make it at least a little interesting. Because of that I was a little demotivated. I know where I want to go with this story, I just had a little trouble coming up with something good for this chapter. There's not a lot going on in this chapter but I want to avoid as many plot holes as I can from the start so that the rest of the story can go smoothly. I'm still figuring out what exactly will happen eventually but hopefully I'll figure it out soon and I can write and thus update faster. And I'll bring in other characters as soon as I can in the story, I don't want to drag it too much but I don't want it to seem rushed either.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. R&R please!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 2**

Kagome went home immediately after her appointment with Mrs. Takahashi. She was ecstatic when she got the job but now she was having doubts about taking it. She had no idea that she would have to live with the patient during his rehabilitation and now that she did she didn't know what to do. On the one hand she loved her job and she never turned any patient down but she would either work with them at home or at the rehab center depending on what kind of therapy was needed and she would only work during the day. On the other hand she didn't know what to expect if she decided to take the job. She had always lived at home and living somewhere else other than home already scared her, let alone living with someone else even if it was a patient.

She sighed to herself, she would have to ask her parents about it. It's not that she needed approval, she guessed she just needed a little push. She would love to help this patient, she was just a little uncomfortable about living with someone she didn't know at all.

She got home almost an hour after she left the Takahashi mansion since she used public transportation. She needed to speak to her parents as soon as possible so she went to the kitchen where she was sure she would find her mother making dinner.

"Hi Mom," she greeted cheerfully.

"Hello dear, how did the interview go?"

"It went great, I was offered the job but there's just one problem and I need to discuss it with you and Dad."

"All right dear, I guess we could talk about it over dinner."

"Actually, I would rather talk about it before dinner if it's not too much trouble, I haven't decided yet if I would take this patient and I told Mrs. Takahashi that I would call her tonight to give her an answer. This decision is kind of hard for me to make and I really want to know what you and Dad think about it before I call Mrs. Takahashi." Kagome said seriously.

Her mother caught the urgency in her daughter's voice and told her to go fetch her father and bring him into the kitchen so they could talk. Kagome complied and went to look for her father who was probably in the music room.

She found him sitting behind the piano playing a beautiful yet sad melody, it was one of her and her father's favorite songs. She leaned against the doorframe and let the emotions from the song wash over her, she always liked the way her father played this song. When he finished playing she made her presence known.

"Hey Dad, how are you doing today?"

"Hey baby girl, I'm fine. So how did your interview go?"

"That's what I want to talk to you and Mom about. I was offered the job but there is one thing I need to discuss with you before I decide to take this patient or not. Do you mind if we talk about it now? Mom is already waiting in the kitchen."

Her father noticed her daughter's serious but troubled face, so it must be important.

"All right baby girl, let's go to the kitchen then."

A moment later they were all in the kitchen, sitting at the kitchen table. Mr. and Mrs. Higurashi were waiting for their daughter to start talking, but they didn't have to wait for long.

"Well, as I told you before, I was offered the job. However, the rehab center forgot to inform me that if I took this patient I would have to live with him during his rehabilitation. And you know that I never reject any patient, it's just that I don't know what to expect, I've always lived at home and I don't know if I'm ready to leave you two alone."

"Baby girl, we won't tell you what to do, it's entirely your decision if you decide to take this patient and move into his house, besides it's just for a little while, after his rehabilitation you can always move back in or you can go live on your own. Your mother and I have been prepared for you to move out ever since you graduated high school so whatever you decide is fine with us."

"But will you be okay if I'm not here?" She asked concerned.

"Of course we will be dear, you've helped us a lot ever since your father's accident and we didn't even have to ask you, so you don't have to ask us either if you want to do something different. But know that whatever you decide we'll support you no matter what and if I may say so, I think you're ready for a new experience, you've been ready for a while now so don't doubt yourself," Mrs. Higurashi answered.

Kagome sighed. "I guess you're right, I think I just didn't want to disappoint you if I were to suddenly move out. This is all happening really fast though, if I take this patient I'll have to move in and start working in two days."

"That's all right baby girl, we knew you had to move out some day, even if it was temporarily. Now go make that call so we can have dinner." Her father replied.

Kagome nodded and went to her bedroom, she took the wireless phone and dialed Mrs. Takahashi's number, a maid answered after two rings and took the phone to Mrs. Takahashi and told her Kagome was on the line.

"Hello Miss Higurashi, I assume you got home safe."

"Yes Mrs. Takahashi, and I also discussed some things with my parents and I've made my decision. I'll gladly take your son as a patient."

"Oh that's great news dear, thank you, you don't know how much this means to me. I really hope this time things will work out better and that he'll be walking soon."

"Oh he will Mrs. Takahashi, all my patients have had great results so this will be no exception." Kagome said confidently.

"It's good to know you're this motivated. Now, I will pick you up tomorrow afternoon so you can settle in and start working the day after tomorrow. Is that all right with you?"

"You don't have to pick me up, I always use public transportation so it will be no problem."

"Actually, I need you to sign some papers before you move into my son's house and it will be too much of an inconvenient for you to come to my house just to sign those papers and then go to my son's house. I'm just trying to make it easier for you dear."

"All right then, what time should I expect you and do you have my address?"

"Yes, I have all your information with me. I'll be there at one in the afternoon so be ready."

"I will and thank you Mrs. Takahashi."

"Nonsense dear, I should be thanking you. I'll see you tomorrow then, goodbye."

"Bye." Kagome said and hung up.

She then went back downstairs to have dinner with her family and after dinner she spent a few hours packing her belongings before going to bed.

After Mrs. Takahashi finished the phone call she dialed her son's number, he picked up after three rings.

"Hello?" A bored voice answered.

"Hello sweetie, how are you doing today?"

"As good as I can be I guess. How are you doing? Does your leg still hurt?" Inuyasha asked concerned.

"I'm fine dear, don't worry about me. It only hurts a little when I put pressure on it but the pain should be gone in the next couple of weeks." She replied.

"That's good to hear. So did you find another PT?"

"Yes I did," she said excitedly, "she starts working the day after tomorrow but she'll move in tomorrow."

"Wait, did you say she? And she's moving in?" He asked surprised.

"Yes dear, is it hard to believe that females can also be physical therapists? She's moving in because I thought it would be best if you had someone to help you out doing whatever you need when Kikyo is not around. But that does not mean she's a live in maid!"

"Mother, I just need a physical therapist that will help me walk again, she doesn't have to live with me. None of the other PT's lived here, I don't see why this one should." He argued.

"Inuyasha, trust me on this. You need someone like her, I highly doubt anyone would help you the way your new PT would, she has a lot of experience with paraplegics, she's a great therapist and she knows how to help you aside from physical therapy. And by the way dear, you can't fire her, only I can but that doesn't mean you can make things difficult for her so she'd quit, do you hear me?" Mrs. Takahashi said sternly.

"Yes, yes, whatever." He answered grumpily.

"Good, now do you have any more questions?"

"I guess not. Anyway I'm hungry Mom, I'll go fix myself something."

"Son, you're going to have to cut on ramen if you want to stay fit besides, it's not healthy to eat ramen every single day."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at his mother but realized she couldn't see him. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll talk to you later Mom."

"All right dear, bye." Mrs. Takahashi then hung up.

She sighed and stared for a moment at the phone. She hoped her son would do as she asked, but even if he didn't he would eventually see what she saw in Kagome. She was sure that all Inuyasha needed to have a fast recovery was Kagome, with her being one of the best PT's of the best rehab center in LA, having a lot of experience despite her young age and she was almost sure she would get along with her son.

She took the phone and her cane and went downstairs to put the phone back in its stand and to go have dinner with her husband. He should be arriving anytime now.

Inuyasha went to the kitchen to make himself some ramen. After eating he went to his studio as usual, it was the only place in his house that he could feel somewhat like before. After returning home from the hospital he would go there a lot to drown himself in all his sorrows; he could only truly express how he felt through his music. Lately he only did it when he was alone though, he didn't feel comfortable expressing himself in front of anyone anymore, specially his friends and family, he didn't want their pity.

After a few hours in the studio he decided to go to bed, after doing practically nothing all day he was surprisingly tired. When he got to his room he took off all his clothes except for his boxers, it took him a while but he always did things all by himself, he was too stubborn to accept anyone's help. A moment later he pulled himself up on his bed and looked at the alarm clock on his night table, it showed 23.13.

He sighed and wondered where Kikyo was for the umpteenth time today and he decided to give her a call to see where she was but he after a few rings the call was diverted to her voicemail. He decided not to leave a message since it wasn't the first time she would just leave for hours and didn't answer his calls. But he was getting tired of it, he wondered where she would be at that moment and what she would be doing and more importantly with whom.

He was getting stressed so he decided to put his thoughts at the back of his mind to ponder on another occasion, he had a lot of free time so he could think about it whenever he wanted but right now he was tired so he went to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey readers, I'm so sorry for updating until now. When I started writing my stories I didn't have much to do, but now I'm so busy that I don't always find the time to write. Besides that I had no idea what to write. I know where I wanna go with these stories but the hard part is actually turning my ideas into a story, and another problem is that I get new ideas all the time. However when I do something, I like to do it to the best of my abilities and if I'm not satisfied than I get frustrated at everything, including myself but I keep trying to do it better, which is why this update took so long. I'm actually kind of tired of writing this chapter, it took too long and that's why I'm uploading it, no matter if it's good or bad. I just want to move on with my stories, I feel it's another push for me to keep writing better.

So hopefully you'll enjoy reading this chapter more than I enjoyed writing it :)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 3**

Kagome woke up the next morning around 7 AM, she was always a morning person so it was no problem waking up so early. Besides she usually had to wake up early to go to work. After taking a shower and brushing her teeth she put on black skinny jeans and a white tank top. She set a pair of black ankle boots near her bed and a three-quarter sleeve plaid fitted blazer on her bed to wear before leaving the house. She blow dried her hair and put on some mascara, eyeliner and clear lipgloss. She was done by 8 AM and went to eat breakfast.

When she got to the kitchen her mother was almost done making breakfast and her father was sitting at the kitchen table reading the newspaper and drinking coffee while waiting for breakfast.

She had a nice breakfast with her parents, they talked about having brunch on Sunday, as they usually did ever since she got into college and now that her little brother was also in college it they still did that, by now it was almost tradition. Other than that her parents tried to reassure her once again that they had no problem with her new living arrangements as long as she was okay with it. After that she went to make sure she had everything packed, by the time she was done she noticed she still had a few hours to kill before Mrs. Takahashi would pick her up.

She took her laptop out of her shoulder bag and started downloading a few new songs on her Ipod and listened to a few of Demonic's songs, she listened to the few ones she knew and a few others that she didn't. They were pretty good, she couldn't deny that but it seems like they were still missing something in their music that she just couldn't put her finger on yet.

When she was done listening and downloading she put her laptop back ino her shoulder bag, she looked at her watch and saw that there were still about 25 minutes before Mrs. Takahashi came to pick her up. She decided to finish getting ready by putting on her blazer and her ankle boots and took her two suitcases and her shoulder bag downstairs near the front door. When she was done she started feeling a little nervous because today she would leave her home, even though it was for her job things would be different from now on.

Deciding there was still had some time left she went to the music room. Everytime she felt the need to relax she would go to the music room to play some songs and depending on her mood she sometimes even sang.

She went to sit behind the grand piano, she thought about singing a song that would suit her mood right now and had inspired her since the first time she heard it. She started playing a melody before starting to sing.

_Mmm..._

_The world seems so cold  
When I face so much all alone  
A little scared to move on  
And knowing how fast I have grown_

_And I wonder just where I fit in  
Oh the vision of life in my head  
Oh yes_

_I will be  
Strong on my own  
I will see through the rain  
I will find my way  
I will keep on  
Traveling this road  
Till I finally reach my dream  
Till I'm living, and I'm breathing  
My destiny, yeah yeah_

_I can't let go now  
Even when darkness surrounds  
But if I hold on, yeah  
I will show the world  
All the things that you never expected to see  
From little old me, this Pittsburgh girl_

_And I wonder just where my place is  
Close my eyes and I remind myself this  
Oh yeah yeah_

_I will be  
Strong on my own  
I will see through the rain  
I will find my way  
I will keep on  
Traveling this road  
Till I finally reach my dream  
Till I'm living, and I'm breathing  
My destiny, ohh_

_It comforts me  
Ooh it keeps me  
Alive each day of my life  
Always guiding me  
Providing me  
With the hope I desperately need_

_Well I gotta believe  
There's something out there meant for me  
Oh I get on my knees  
Praying I will receive  
The courage to grow and the faith to know_

_That I will be  
Strong on my own  
I will see through the rain  
I will find my way  
I will keep on  
Traveling this road  
Till I finally reach my dream  
Till I'm living, and I'm breathing  
My destiny_

The sound of clapping startled Kagome and she turned to the door to see her parents and Mrs. Takahashi standing there still clapping and smiling. She gasped and looked at her watch and saw that it was almost one o'clock, so Mrs. Takahashi was a little early. She didn't really mind it, she felt a lot better now after playing that song.

She smiled at the three and greeted Mrs. Takahashi.

"So baby girl, are you ready to go?" Her father asked.

"Yes, I am now," she replied with a confident smile.

"I had my chauffeur put your luggage in the car, is that all you're taking with you?" Mrs. Takahashi asked.

"Uh, I think I'll take my guitar as well, I'll just go upstairs real quick and get it." Kagome replied, knowing that if what Mrs. Takahashi said about her son's attitude was true she would definitely need it to relax herself if she got too stressed, no matter how well she could handle angry and depressed patients, a girl can only do so much without going mad.

"All right, I'll go get the papers that you need to sign ready," Mrs. Takahashi replied.

After Kagome left Mrs. Higurashi led Mrs. Takahashi to the living room to wait for her daughter.

When Kagome got into her room she took her guitar off her guitar stand and put it in its case, she also took a few notebooks to write when she felt inspired and to work on the songs she had already written.

She took one last look at her room to see if she didn't forget anything else and to try to remember her room one last time before she shut the door and went downstairs.

She put her guitar near the front door and went looking for her parents and Mrs. Takahashi. It wasn't hard to find them, she heard them talking in the living room, where her mother usually received their guests.

She found them chatting about music which was no surprise to her, the Takahashi's were well known in the music business and her father was a musician before he was paralyzed. Although that didn't stop him from making music, he just didn't do it for a living anymore.

Mrs. Takahashi and her mother were sitting on the couch while her father was sitting on one of the two remaining chairs. She took a seat in the empty chair and Mrs. Takahashi turned her attention to her and handed her the papers she needed to sign. It turned out to be a Nondisclosure Agreement which she had no problem signing after she read the whole document. She kind of expected it, even though as a physician she was not allowed to disclose any information about her patients. She would do the same thing if she was in their position, they had a right to privacy so she wasn't going to deny them that.

After signing the papers Kagome said goodbye to her parents, she was a little emotional but she was mostly excited, this would be a new chapter in her life and she couldn't wait to see what would be in store for her.

While they were in the limo Kagome talked to Mrs. Takahashi about Inuyasha's rehabilitation, she went over his file but she wanted to understand a little more how he's been affected ever since the accident. Since he refused the rehab center's psychiatrist she didn't really know in what state of mind she would find her new patient.

Mrs. Takahashi smiled a sad smile and told Kagome that he didn't seem to have changed much, he was always someone who kept a lot to himself and has always seemed to be a tough guy however, even though he doesn't like to show it he's a good person that would do anything for his friends and family. So he probably was affected and he's just not showing it. But she did warn the raven-haired woman that he's been grumpier than usual the last few days and to just have patience with him, he'll be to his normal self soon enough.

They arrived at Inuyasha's mansion sooner than she'd thought they would and suddenly she was starting to feel a little nervous again, she was not only going to be living somewhere other than home but she was going to live in a famous rock star's mansion.

The driver pulled up the driveway and parked in front of the two story mansion. The driver, whose name she learned was Totosai, opened the door for her and Mrs. Takahashi. When she got out of the limo she took a deep breath to calm herself down, her heart was starting to beat fast, she didn't know what to expect and that made her both nervous and excited.

Mrs. Takahashi went to the door, took out a bunch of keys and opened the door with one of them. Kagome followed her inside and Mrs. Takahashi led her to the living room while she was silently taking in the beauty of the mansion.

Mrs. Takahashi told her that her luggage would be taken to her new room and asked her to please wait while she went to look for her son. While she waited Kagome took the opportunity to take a look around the spacious living room and out the large windows to the beautiful garden.

* * *

The house was quiet so there was only one place her son could be and that's exactly where she found him, in the recording studio. She found him working on a new song but he seemed frustrated so it must not be going well.

"I see you're having some trouble there, dear. Is everything okay?" Inuyasha looked up from his notebook and looked at his mother.

"Hey Mom, I'm fine, don't worry about it."

"You're not fine, otherwise you wouldn't have any trouble writing lyrics." His mother replied with a knowing look. Inuyasha sighed.

"All right fine, it's just, you know, the usual." He said cryptically, but his mother did have a pretty good idea what the usual was.

"Well dear, how about a little break? I brought your new PT and she's waiting for us in the living room."

"Fine,whatever," he said dejectedly, "this one better be good though." His mother smiled and led him to the living room.

Before they got to the living room he smelled a wonderful scent that already made him feel more relaxed than he had in days. It smelled like fresh rain in a rainforest with a hint of exotic flowers. He suddenly found himself wanting more of that scent, God knows how he needed to relax more often, but when he thought when was the last time he wanted to smell someone's scent so badly, it was when he was still a pup seeking the scent of his parents for comfort, but even this felt somehow different. He decided to brush it off, if he didn't get it then it didn't matter to him what it meant.

Entering the living room he saw a woman standing by the large window looking at the garden, she wasn't very tall, maybe about 5"5, she had long raven layered hair that reached just under her shoulder blades. She had a nice figure, she wasn't skinny like a model but she seemed fit, so he guessed she worked out.

Mrs. Takahashi called her name and when she turned around his breath caught in his throat, she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life. She had perfect lightly tanned skin, beautiful blue gray eyes that seemed to radiate with life, a cute button nose and gorgeous luscious lips that turned upwards into a beautiful smile.

Kagome on the other hand already knew who he was but she was still shocked to see how gorgeous he was, even in a wheelchair. Her eyes traveled to his silver hair that was so long it almost reached the ground, next she saw the cutest dog ears she had ever seen and a smile appeared on her face. Her hand itched to touch them but she knew it wouldn't be right to do it out of the blue, so she restrained herself from doing so. Her eyes traveled down his face and met beautiful amber eyes, what made them beautiful was not only the color but the emotions they held were what got her attention the most.

They were both brought out of their thoughts when they heard Mrs. Takahashi speak.

"Inuyasha, this is Kagome Higurashi, your new PT. Kagome, this is my son, Inuyasha." Kagome stepped away from the window and when she was close enough to the hanyou she stretched an arm out to him.

"Hello Mr. Takahashi, it's nice to meet you." She said while shaking his hand.

Inuyasha could have died and gone to heaven right then and there just by hearing her soothing and melodic voice, he'd never heard anything more beautiful in his life, besides his mother's voice of course.

"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Higurashi and just call me Inuyasha, I hate formalities." He said in a nice tone that surprised both himself and his mother.

"Well then you can call me Kagome." She said with a bright smile.

Mrs. Takahashi was surprised but happy to see her son treating the new PT nicely, a side he didn't show too often unfortunately, but she was also wondering how long it would last until he showed Kagome his true colors.

"So Kagome, here are your keys, these are the keys to all the doors that lead outside, your bedroom and the gym, there's also a room connected to the gym where you'll be treating Inuyasha and don't worry, you'll find everything you need in there." Mrs. Takahashi said while handing her the keys.

"Oh is it this late already?" She asked after looking at her watch. "I have a meeting in less than an hour so I guess I'll leave you two to get better acquainted. And son, please be nice to her, okay?"

"Mother, you make me sound like I'm usually not nice."

"That's because you're usually not, and please give her a chance to do her job well, we want you walking soon, okay? I'm sorry but I have to go Kagome. I hope everything is to your liking and if you need anything just ask Inuyasha or give me a call, all right?"

"All right, thank you Mrs. Takahashi." She replied.

After Mrs. Takahashi left there was an awkward silence for a moment. Kagome had no idea what to say and Inuyasha was scolding himself mentally for the 'nice' comment his mother made which made him realize that he was actually being nice, which was totally out of character for him.

Kagome couldn't stand the silence any longer so she decided to say something.

"So, uh… what do we do now?" He suddenly looked at her like a wolf looked at its prey.

"How about we go some place quiet and have some fun?" He asked suggestively.

* * *

A/N: This is it for now, btw the song I used in this chapter is _I will be_ from Christina Aguilera. So please review and let me know what you think :).


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hi everyone, I'm sorry for updating until now. I've been really busy and I've been dealing with a lot of family problems so that has taken a lot of my energy. I've been trying to write to get my mind off of things but it wasn't going as well as I wanted to so I've been delaying this update until I was happy with the chapter. I can't even remember how many times I've rewritten it but I'm happy now that I can finally post this chapter. I've already started on chapter 5 but I can't really say I'll update soon, but I can say that I'll try. I'll probably start working on the next chapter of my other story as well so that's why the next update might take a while. But don't worry, I haven't given up on either of them, right now I just have a lot of things to deal with that are more important than writing fanfiction. I hope you all understand and hope you all like this chapter. R&R please.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 4**

If there was one thing Inuyasha was good at it was seducing women, whether he really wanted to or if he was only fooling around, most women he'd come on to believed him and were willing to be seduced by him as well.

So there sat Inuyasha, barely containing his laughter behind his seductive mask watching Kagome's reaction. In the span of five seconds he saw several emotions appear across her now flushed face. First horror - either by his audacity or the question itself -, then anger - she looked cute like that though, he noted. Then her lips twisted into a smirk and a knowing look slowly appeared on her face. That made him a little worried, though he didn't know why, but he made sure he held his façade in place, even as it almost faltered at the question that followed her brief silence.

"Can you even get it up?" She asked still wearing the same expression while slowly yet sensually taking a few steps closer to him, although secretly she wanted to strangle him for thinking she was that kind of person. But if he was going to do things this way than so was she.

That question totally caught him off guard but he still held his mask in place, the only sign he gave that he did not expect this question was when his right eye twitched once, which he hoped she hadn't seen.

Although he hadn't expected her to recoil so fast he liked the fire that was shining in her beautiful blue orbs, as if she was warning him not to mess with her or else. But being his stubborn hanyou self, never taking warnings seriously and always looking for a challenge he decided to take her on, he was rather bored and frustrated a lot these days so this was just what he needed to take his mind off his problems, at least for a while.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He asked confidently.

"Actually I do need to know, I don't think I read it in your medical records," she replied innocently, trying to steer the conversation into a direction she wanted, not his. However, she knew perfectly well that he hadn't even tried to see if he could get an erection, maybe he really was depressed since it's been almost two months after the accident. "I need to know how much you can feel and how your body functions now after the accident so I know how far along your recovery is. And by the way, you can drop this whole charade now, I know you're not really trying to seduce me."

Inuyasha's eye twitched again, how could this woman call his bluff? He was sure he could have fooled her for a bit longer but apparently she was smarter than most women he'd met. And apparently he was starting to lose his mojo as well, or perhaps she was just not easily affected b y his charm, whatever the case he would have to look into that later on, right now he had to show her he wasn't to be messed with either. Since she spoiled his fun he dropped his seductive mask and replaced it with his usual scowl.

"You don´t need to know that, that's personal," he snapped at her. "All you need to know is that I can't feel anything from the waist down and that's all written in my medical records. If you haven't read it then I suggest you do it before we start tomorrow, I'm not paying you so you can slack off, you hear me?" Inuyasha felt uncomfortable about the subject and reacted the way he usually did when confronted with things he didn't want to talk about, he feigned being mad. Although this time he didn't need to feign anything. How did it even get to this? How dare she make him feel like he was less than a man because of that problem and within minutes of knowing each other? Nobody treated him like that and she would soon learn her place.

Kagome's eyes widened a little bit, he had finally shown his true colors. His mother was right, so she was going to have to try not to take his temper personally and find a way to deal with it. This subject was apparently still sensitive for him to discuss so she decided to drop it for now, she didn't want to get her head bitten off after just meeting the guy.

Remembering that he'd just snapped at her she narrowed her eyes a little. She wasn't going to let him get away with that, he needed to know she wouldn't let anyone walk all over her, whether famous or not, or it would just get worse from here on out.

"Do not tell me how to do my job, Mr. Takahashi," she replied sharply. "For your information I have your medical records pretty much memorized already, I can tell you everything that is wrong with you and even probably why your therapy hasn't delivered the expected results yet."

"Really?" Inuyasha interrupted. "Care to explain it to me then?"

"Alright. First off, being a hanyou probably saved your life, your body can handle a lot more than a human's so it absorbed a lot of the impact from the accident without getting too much damage. However, since you shielded your mother most of the impact was absorbed at the weakest point in your body which was where you twisted your body, at the waist area.

"Now, being a hanyou, having had about a month and a half of surgery and rehab and with your healing abilities you should be regaining some feeling by now already but I can start to see why things haven't worked out with your former caretakers. Your attitude, among other things, seems to be a major obstacle and also your reluctance to work with the caretakers who had been assigned to you and the longer you keep this up, the longer it will take to recover."

The raven haired woman sighed and relaxed her posture. It was then that she realized she was standing rather close to the hanyou - who was now scowling darkly at her, and quickly took a few steps back, suddenly embarrassed by her bold move and she could feel her face heat up.

This action confused the hanyou greatly, he usually could figure someone out rather fast but she was showing him different emotions every other minute, it was hard to keep up. Deciding to push that thought at the back of his mind to think about later he replied to her.

"So what if I have an attitude? That's the way I am, if you don't like it and can't deal with it than you can just leave. There are more physical therapists in LA, you won't be hard to replace."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying I have a problem with your attitude…yet. I can tolerate it for now. I'm just pointing out that a personality like yours tends to drive people away. And just so you know," she added, "I'm here to stay until you're completely recovered and I'll be there with you every step of the way. So don't try to chase me away, whenever I take a patient I stick with them till the end, I never give up on anyone and I never let them give up either." She said confidently.

"Whatever," he huffed. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see if you're true to your word."

"Good, I guess we can say that we have a deal then?" she asked with a bright smile.

"Whatever, just make me walk and the sooner the better."

"Oh trust me, I will. And since we're on the subject I'd like to talk to your doctor to set up a plan for your rehabilitation. Since you're a hanyou it is possible that you can walk again in a few months, maybe by the end of the year, but we'll have to work really hard and you have to do everything I tell you to do." She told him bluntly.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I got stuff to do, so I'll just tell Kaede to take you to your room and give you a tour of the house so you know where everything is," he said before calling for the older lady.

Inuyasha told her what to do and then went back to the recording studio. He'd had enough distractions so hopefully he would figure out what was wrong with the song he was working on and fix it. However he couldn't concentrate enough, a certain confident blue eyed raven haired woman was plaguing his thoughts. He didn't really know why either, perhaps because he couldn't figure her out yet and he didn't like it when he couldn't.

He didn't trust anyone he couldn't figure out, but even if he did it didn't mean he would trust them in a heartbeat either. He trusted no one except for a few select people and all of them had earned it, he'd learned his lesson the hard way not to trust anyone blindly and no one was going to change that, certainly not his new physical therapist.

The hanyou sighed to himself, it seemed he wasn't going to get anything done if he kept thinking, he might as well stop working for today and continue tomorrow. However, that meant he had nothing else to do so he called his best friend to see if he wanted to come entertain him.

Kagome was led to her bedroom first by Kaede. Afterwards, she was given a tour of the house, she was impressed by everything, the mansion seemed big from outside but was even bigger on the inside. Every room was big and spacious and was decorated tastefully yet still holding a homey feel.

During the tour Kaede also explained the rules of the house and such, it was mostly how Inuyasha expected them to behave, which was to avoid him as much as possible. She was going to have to change that, being alone like that couldn't be healthy, especially in his condition.

By the time they were done it was almost 3.30 PM and she asked Kaede if she could make a phone call. Before handing her the phone Kaede told her that she was going to have to make her own dinner since she only worked there in the morning till afternoon and after that she worked at the Takahashi mansion. She also explained that after the accident Inuyasha had dismissed his personal chef and has been practically living on ramen. Kagome sighed, it seemed that Inuyasha was going to be her biggest challenge yet.

After thanking Kaede for showing her around the older woman left. She called Inuyasha's doctor to set up an appointment for the next morning. She wanted him to take some tests to see exactly how far along he was in his recovery since the results in his medical records were outdated –him being a hanyou meant that he should recover faster so he'd have to get tested regularly to see his progress- however, she had a feeling something was wrong with the way his rehab has been handled. Besides she needed to formulate a plan with the doctor for his rehabilitation, and something told her they were going to have to start pretty much from the beginning.

After hanging up she went back to her room to start unpacking. While doing so she thought about her new patient. He seemed nice at first but she took account of his mother's warning about his temper and waited to see when he was going to show that side of him. She didn't have to wait long though, she hit a nerve when she asked that personal, yet she considered it a medical, question. She had a feeling he was only testing her when he tried to come on to her. Even though he did catch her off guard, she hadn't expected him to come up with that sort of test, but now that she thought about it she should have. Her father had warned her about famous people testing others to see if they were trustworthy, he himself had even done it when he was still famous.

She was just glad that she recovered fast after the shock he gave her, if he wasn't a patient she would have strangled him the moment he finished his question. Luckily she wasn't shocked too long and managed to put him in his place, no one talked to her like that, whether they were famous or not.

She heaved a sigh and looked around her new room, she was done unpacking and the room felt more homely now that it contained her personal items. She looked at her watch and saw that it was almost 5:00, time sure flew by today. Deciding to make dinner she went to the kitchen but on the way there she wondered if Inuyasha wanted some as well and decided to go to the recording studio to ask him. Kaede had showed her where it was but they didn't enter because Inuyasha was busy working at the time and he hated being disturbed.

However, while she was heading there she heard the doorbell ring and she turned to go answer the door instead. When she opened the door her eyes widened at the many people standing there. It took a moment for her to come to her senses and greeted them with a smile and let them in.

"Uh… hi, I'm sure you're here to see Inuyasha. Come on in."

While they all filed in she recognized every one of them, the guys were Inuyasha's band mates and the girls were from the band Shikon Girls. All of them greeted her as well when they passed her, she had expected at least one of them to make a remark but was glad when no one did.

"Well hello there, pretty lady," said a deep masculine voice.

Damn, she spoke too soon. She resisted rolling her eyes at him, she didn't want to be rude. She just gave him a fake smile before answering him.

"Hi, I'm Kagome and you are?" She asked even though she did recognize the wolf demon.

"I'm Kouga, Demonic's drummer. So what's a pretty lady like yourself doing here in the mutt's house?" He asked while sporting a seductive look.

"I'm Inuyasha's new live in physical therapist, but why don't you come inside? I have to go get Inuyasha for you guys." She replied ignoring his looks and his tone.

"Mutt face can wait, can't he? Why don't we go someplace quiet and you can show me your skills?" He asked suggestively.

'Geez, this guy is worse than Inuyasha. I'm not even sure if he meant it or if he's faking it.' She thought to herself.

"Look," she started in an annoyed tone, "sorry to be rude but I'm not interested in you or Inuyasha or anyone else for that matter. I'm just here to do my job, nothing more, nothing less. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go get Inuyasha before he bites my head off for not doing so." She said with a huff before turning around.

She couldn't go far though, 'cause behind her sat Inuyasha in his wheelchair with an annoyed look on his face. She didn't really know what to say so she just stared at him and he did the same, as if contemplating what he was going to say.

"Yo mutt face, what's up? Still crippled I see." Kouga said as if he hadn't tried to seduce her at all. "I hear this pretty lady is going to be your new PT, you'd better hang on to her, if only just because she's hot."

He was met with two murderous looks and decided to hide behind the rest of the group, which Kagome had only just noticed were standing there the whole time, all of them wearing an amused expression.

A brown haired woman who looked about the same age as her stepped forward and extended her hand to Kagome.

"Hi, I'm Sango. Sorry about these jerks, they like to fool around with new people working for them. I disagree with their method since they both have girlfriends," she said while giving both men a disapproving look, "but I have to say I do agree with the idea. It seems you've passed so far, I just hope we can get along with each other anyway."

"It's okay, my father had warned me a long time ago about men in show business," Kagome replied. "And I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

"Great, anyway why don't we move to the living room and I'll introduce you to everyone." Sango said while herding the group of people to the living room.

They ordered Chinese and then proceeded to introduce themselves to Kagome. Inuyasha's band consisted of himself, he played rhythm guitar and was the lead vocal. Kouga was the drummer, like he'd stated earlier.

Then there was Miroku who played bass guitar and was one of the backing vocals, and being the lecher he is he asked her to bear his children and then groped her. Let's just say he would definitely think twice before he tried that again unless he wanted another black eye to match the one she gave him. She hadn't meant to punch him really, she wanted to slap him at first but after what she went through with Inuyasha and Kouga she was just fed up and took out her frustration on him, but oh well, as long as he kept his hands away from her.

And the last member of the band was Shippou, a young kitsune who was also the youngest of the whole group, he was the lead guitarist and the other backing vocals. Kagome thought he was cute and was very polite considering the group of people he worked with.

The Shikon Girls consisted of Sango, the bass guitarist and backing vocals, Ayame, the lead guitarist and backing vocals, she was also a wolf demon like Kouga. Rin, the youngest of the Shikon Girls, though a year older than Shippou was the drummer. The rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of their band, Kagura, wasn't there. And when Kagome had asked about her the girls all looked annoyed and told her she wasn't coming today. They were obviously upset with her so she decided to change the subject.

Inuyasha had complained to Miroku because he'd only invited him to his house, not all their friends, but Kagome could see that it was all an act, he seemed a little more relaxed and maybe a little happy that they'd all decided to come, it showed him that they cared. Briefly, she wondered how his life must have been like to make him distrust people and resort to stupid little tests to try to figure out if they were trustworthy or not.

The girls talked to each other mostly among themselves while the guys did the same. Kagome and the girls hit it off immediately, they were just ordinary people after all if you overlooked the fact that they were famous rock stars.

Inuyasha was only half listening to the guys talk about what they've been up to lately, he couldn't really pay attention to them while Kagome was in the same room. He heard her laugh at something Sango told her, her smile and laughter causing him to feel a strange flutter in his stomach, he didn't know what it meant though, he'd never felt anything like that before so he just brushed it off.

Suddenly the front door opened quietly, the humans hadn't heard it but the demons did and stayed quiet, most wearing the same annoyed expression except for one, until the person came into the room. When she entered she only spared the group a glance before walking up to Inuyasha and kissed him on the lips. The whole room was quiet and no one looked at the couple. Kagome took everything in but didn't really understand why they were acting that way, however, she did recognize the tall beautiful woman when she entered though, she was Kikyou Yamazaki, supermodel and Inuyasha's girlfriend.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hi guys, I'm so sorry for not updating in such a long time. I've been dealing with a lot of personal issues and I didn't feel like writing for a long time. The last few days I've been in a writing mood again and ended up finishing this chapter. It's not perfect but I got tired of working on it so I decided to upload it anyway. Another reason it took me a while is that I've been thinking about how the plot would unfold and such, this story will probably be a long one and I really do want to finish it, I just don't know how long it will take. So I apologize in advance for however long it will take and thank you for all the support you've shown me so far by either reviews or just reading my stories.

I hope you enjoy this chapter! ;)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or the song 'I will take care of you' by The Bangles**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 5**

They all suddenly grew quiet and the room seemed colder than a minute ago, which unnerved Kagome. She looked around the room and noticed that everyone was sporting either a frown, a scowl or a bored look on their face and looked away from the couple. She thought it was odd but decided to just observe for the moment instead of asking questions.

The kiss was only a slight touch on the lips but somehow Kikyou exuded possessiveness. She stood back up to look at everyone once again and noticed someone she didn't recognize.

"And who might you be?" She asked in a cold voice.

Kagome smiled a little nervously, the supermodel was looking at her indifferently but she didn't miss the threatening glint in her eyes. However, instead of cowering before Kikyou, like most people, the young physical therapist put on a more confident smile to mask her nervousness. She stood up extending her hand while confidently saying, "I'm Kagome Higurashi, Inuyasha's new physical therapist. It's nice to meet you Miss Yamazaki."

Kikyou looked at her with a bored expression and just answered with a "hmph." She turned to Inuyasha again and told him she wanted to speak with him privately.

The hanyou nodded and told the rest of the group that he would be right back before following her to another room.

Kagome stood there dumbfounded, with her hand still extended. She lowered it slowly silently wondering if Kikyou Yamazaki had really just brushed her off just like that.

When Inuyasha and Kikyou were out of earshot everyone started complaining about her, how none of them liked her and didn't know what Inuyasha saw in her. Well, the girls mostly complained but the guys didn't disagree.

When they were done complaining Sango thought it better to warn her about the supermodel and told her to try to not get in her way, especially since Kagome was now going to be living there. However, the brunette had a feeling Kagome would be capable of handling Kikyou after seeing her behave confidently and not cowardly in front of the supermodel, especially since she hadn't missed the threatening glint she shot towards the physical therapist.

Kagome promised she would take her warning into consideration but she was secretly curious as to why the supermodel would behave that way, and if the threat was real or just made out of fear of her trying to steal the hanyou from her. She guessed she would just have to wait and see, however, she knew for sure she had no intention of stealing anybody's boyfriend, no matter how handsome they were, she was only there to do her job.

"So… how about we go to the game room?" Miroku asked trying to get rid of the tension Kikyou always left whenever she stepped into a room.

Everyone agreed readily, the guys practically racing there while the girls took their time going to the game room.

* * *

Kikyou led Inuyasha to the study, walking silently the whole way. She had always been a private person, only showing emotion when she needed to and speaking only when she wanted to.

The walk wasn't very long, Inuyasha shut the door behind him before turning to her and giving her his full attention. She was quiet for a while, as if trying to sort out whatever she was going to say. He knew not to pressure her into talking, she liked taking her time, something which irked him but he had learned to deal with it. A moment later she started talking.

"So who is this new physical therapist? And how come I wasn't notified before you hired her?"

"First of all, I didn't hire her, my mother did. According to her she's one of the best in LA despite being so young. And second of all, I didn't know I had to get your permission before hiring a new physical therapist."

"Well, I had already contacted someone to replace your last one. Next time make sure you tell me before you or your mother make such decisions. And I would like to at least take part in the decisions you make, I am your girlfriend after all," she said, her voice soft yet firm and it contained no emotion whatsoever, which could only mean she was angry but she never liked to use unnecessary energy.

"Exactly, you're my girlfriend, not my wife so stop acting like it. However, I suppose I should at least discuss some things before I make some decisions," he paused, "but then again, I can't help it that you're rarely home or that lately I can't reach you on your cell phone when you're out of the house. I can't always keep waiting for you to get home while you're doing God knows what till God knows when," he said, his voice raising by the second.

"You know very well that I have a lot of work right now, Inuyasha. I can't just leave everyone hanging just because you feel lonely, there are a lot of people who expect me to do a good job and I can't do that while tending to your every need."

"So your job is more important than me, your _paraplegic_ _boyfriend_?"

"Of course not, I'm just trying to earn a living here so that we can live comfortably later on. You've had three physical therapists already and you still haven't had any positive results. Do you know what that means? It means you might be paralyzed for the rest of your life and I'm just thinking about the future right now."

"I'm not completely paralyzed, Kikyou, sooner or later I _am_ going to walk again so do us both a favor and get that shit out of your head!" By now he was pissed already.

"Really?" she asked, raising a single brow, "How can you be so sure then?"

"Kikyou, I think my doctor is competent enough to figure out if I will or will not walk again. He said I was going to walk again and I believe him, at least I have to 'cause I don't know what I'd do if I can't walk again." He sighed and shook his head trying to clear his head of negative thoughts. "In any case, he was the one who recommended Kagome and my mother interviewed and approved of her before hiring her. And my mother would never hire someone incompetent so that means she has to be good."

"So you're saying you don't trust me as much as you trust your mother?"

"I didn't say that, don't put words in my mouth."

"You still didn't answer my question."

"Truthfully? I don't know, with the way you've been acting the last couple of weeks I don't know what to think anymore." He sighed before continuing, " look, I'm just frustrated that nothing is going the way they should be and I barely see you anymore, which wouldn't bother me if it weren't for the fact that you're living with me. So tell me, what have you been doing lately?" He asked sternly.

"Like I said before, I've been _working_, Inuyasha. Someone has to keep the money flowing and right now you're not able to do so, so I took it upon myself."

If there was one thing Inuyasha hated, it was liars, Kikyou's usually very composed, even now she still seemed calm on the outside but he was sure she was lying, or nervous about something in any case. There was no way he would have missed the way Kikyou's heartbeat suddenly quickened after his question. If it was someone else he would have brushed it off as nothing but this was Kikyou, the woman who keeps every emotion in check, not to mention her own hearbeat (usually), not many people could do that, the only other person…er…demon he knew who could do that was his half-brother. If that wasn't enough to convince him the smell of perspiration on her forehead surely did, the woman hardly sweat and there was air conditioning in the entire house, there was probably no other explanation for her odd behavior.

"Kikyou you know damn well you don't have to work so hard to earn money, my family is loaded so there's no reason for you to be working so much. Besides, that still doesn't explain why you leave early every day and you get home so late that I'm already asleep or you sometimes don't show up until the next day. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were cheating on me," he said seriously.

He didn't want to accuse her of cheating without having any proof but he couldn't help saying what he did, it just slipped. Gone was the composed Kikyou and now in front of him stood a very angry supermodel.

"How dare you accuse me of such a thing, Inuyasha? That is just ridiculous, I can't help it if my working hours have increased, you have no idea how much I've worked my ass off the last few weeks." Inuyasha raised an eyebrow when she cursed, 'cause Kikyou only cursed when she was very, _very_ angry. However he decided not to interrupt her, he'd let her blow off some steam or he might find himself being fried by her spiritual powers, that was something he never wanted to experience again.

"Is this the thanks I get for trying to be a good girlfriend and taking care of you?" She continued. "And since we're on the topic of "cheating" let's get something straight about your new PT. We both know she's pretty so she'd better do her job and _only_ her job and she'd better not get in my way while doing so or she's gone, do you hear me? Let's just hope _you_ don't cheat on _me_, otherwise there will be hell to pay."

"You know me better than that Kikyou, I'm not a cheater! Besides even if we wanted to we can't fire her, that was the deal I made with my mother. She's the only one who can fire her and only if things aren't working out."

"Why in the world would you do that?" She asked, her voice still raising. It seemed the more they talked the more livid she became and the more she lost her composure. "It's none of her business how we handle your rehab, that's why I'm here, to take care of you."

"Well, apparently your _care_ isn't good enough, is it? Seeing as you're rarely home. What do you want me to do, beg you to take some time off? Hell will freeze over before I start begging anyone for anything." She was starting to get on his nerves, he didn't understand why she thought it was wrong that his mother stepped in. "Besides, where did you even get those other physical therapists? They didn't do shit, I was supposed to have regained some feeling already but I feel absolutely _nothing _yet!" He shouted. The whole day's frustration had now evolved into just plain anger.

"Do not talk to me like that, Inuyasha. If you must know, a _trusted _family friend who happens to be a doctor recommended them, maybe it didn't work out with any of them because you didn't give them a chance to do their work because of your stupid attitude getting in the way, did you ever think of that?"

"I don't care what they think about me, they should have done their job well. That's what they were hired for, not to complain about my attitude." He paused, "and please do me a favor and let Kagome do her job, I can tell she's not like the others. If you really want me to recover as soon as possible you'd do that for me."

"Fine, but I'm not sure if you should trust her. I just have this weird feeling about her," she explained vaguely.

"Well that doesn't tell me much since you never trust anyone anyhow. Besides, it's me who has to figure out if she's trustworthy or not, I'm the crippled one here who she has to help, not you."

"You know what Inuyasha, do whatever you want. I am tired of trying to help you, to take care of you, to watch your back, when all you do is complain about what a lousy job I'm doing," she suddenly yelled. "I'm not going to stand here and take any of this anymore! I'm staying at Kagura's tonight. We'll talk more tomorrow!"

With that she stormed out of the study and shortly thereafter the hanyou heard the front door close loudly.

He sighed and silently wondered if things couldn't have gone worse. He decided not to dwell over it for now, he'd think about it later when he'd be alone in his bed tonight.

* * *

He decided to go back to his friends but didn't find them in the living room where he had left them. It wasn't hard to find them anyway since he just followed their scent to the game room. When he got there he saw the guys were playing videogames while the girls were chatting merrily at the bar.

When he entered the room everyone turned to look at him and he hated the look on their faces, he was pretty sure they knew he and Kikyou had a fight, it wasn't an everyday occurrence but his friends could read him all too well, or maybe the demons had heard them yelling at each other.

The only one who didn't look at him with pity was Kagome, that was probably because they had just met today and she didn't know anything about nor understood his relationship with Kikyou, but it was still a little comforting to see a smile on her face. He liked that smile of hers, it was just so genuine there was no way she could fake it like most people did when around him.

Before he could help himself he found the corners of his lips curl up a little into a small but, surprisingly for him, still genuine smile that threw everyone off guard, so much so that all his friends suddenly looked dumbfounded. This in turn caused him to snap back to reality and his scowl to return, he hated acting out of the ordinary and it seemed like it happens too easily when Kagome was around, he'd have to find a way to avoid that from ever happening again.

To keep up appearances he barked at them to take 'that dumb look' off their faces. The girls, excluding Kagome who just giggled at his behavior, all rolled their eyes at him, as if telling themselves that they probably imagined him smiling. Maybe because none of them had noticed the smile the raven-haired woman had given him in the first place. The guys on the other hand hadn't missed the interaction between them and were all looking at him with knowing looks, especially Miroku. He just glared at them in response and went to play with the guys while ignoring the looks they were giving him.

A short while later the girls decided to leave, apparently they had a band meeting early in the morning. Kagome decided to go to bed since there was nothing else to do anyway and she had a feeling Inuyasha would like some more guy time with his friends. She informed him about the early doctor's appointment and said goodbye to the guys before going to bed.

The guys waited for Kagome to be out of earshot before bombarding him with questions about his new physical therapist. Where he found her, how he found her, they even started a bet about who could get with her first. This last topic was mostly between Kouga, Miroku and surprisingly Shippou. Since he was younger than them they all looked at him like some kind of almost innocent little brother who looked up to them. The only part that they had wrong was the 'almost innocent' part, he was in no way the innocent guy they met several years ago. Inuyasha only said (mostly to convince himself) that he was not interested in her and then tried to ignore the rest of their conversation, which ultimately he couldn't.

The guys stared at him for a moment before starting to laugh at him, needless to say they didn't believe him. They had spent the entire night observing them, and they saw that there was some kind of connection between them, almost like chemistry but since they hadn't interacted that much tonight they couldn't be certain of it. That's why they decided to tease the hanyou about it and see how he would react and they couldn't say they were disappointed when they noticed a very light pink shade on his cheeks before he turned his head away from them and just ignored them from then on.

They guys, knowing they couldn't tease him anymore since he'd closed himself off, decided to call it a night and told him they would be back tomorrow. They knew he'd heard them when his ears twitched the slightest bit. Even though he wouldn't respond to them that always gave away that he had indeed listened anyway.

When they left Inuyasha stopped playing his videogame and decided to get to bed. He took the elevator that was installed in the house about a month ago to go upstairs. Before reaching his room he passed Kagome's new room and the sound of a guitar playing and her voice singing made him stop to listen to her.

_When the daylight disappears_  
_When you're haunted, I'll be near_  
_When the shadows come to call_  
_When you're too scared to stand tall_  
_I can stand tall_

She had a beautiful voice, he couldn't deny that. It was actually kind of soothing, somehow making him let go of some of his worries and frustrations just by hearing her sing.

_Dream and let your dreams go_  
_It's your turn to fly_  
_As long as I'm standing by_  
_You can close your eyes_

_I will take care of you_  
_Long as you want me to_  
_Whatever else I do_  
_I will take care of you_

Now that he listened to the lyrics the song sounded familiar to him but what struck him the most was the way she sang the words, it was like she was singing it for someone. But who?

_Don't you worry, while you sleep_  
_All my love is yours to keep_  
_All you wish for, all you know_  
_Will be yours when you let go_  
_You can let go_

_Smile, if you can now_  
_Smile through your tears_  
_Here where your fears are known_  
_Know you're safe at home_

_I will take care of you_  
_Long as you want me to_  
_Whatever else I do_  
_I will take care of you_

_All you have to do is say goodnight_

_Close your eyes and fly into te light_

_I will take care of you_  
_Long as you want me to_  
_Whatever else I do_  
_I will take care of you..._

If he didn't know any better he would say that she just played that song for him, as if she was trying to convey him a message. But was she really? Was she trying to tell him to let her take care of him or maybe it was just a coincidence that he was passing by her room just when she started singing that song. Although why would she sing that particular song anyway?

He sighed, he didn't want to think anymore, he had done enough thinking for today. Ever since he met the raven haired woman he'd been trying to figure her out and until now he still didn't know what to make of her. Who cares right now? All this thinking had made him tired so he made his way to his room, he pushed himself off his wheelchair onto his bed, took off all his clothes except his boxers and then pulled the blanket over himself.

He just lay there for a while contemplating everything that had happened that day, for some strange reason his brain wouldn't shut down and all there was left to do was to think.

Today was a long day to say the least, however he couldn't say it totally sucked. For the first time in a while he had felt hope, it felt so long ago that the doctors were so optimistic about his successful operation and they assured him that his rehabilitation would probably be just as successful. He should have known better though, nothing in his life ever went smoothly, he had always worked hard to get what he wanted, to get where he was today, this all made him into the man he was today.

But he was tired of working so hard, he always liked a challenge but his paralysis was the toughest one yet. He had worked hard ever since he started his rehab but what good did it do? He was nowhere close to starting to walk again and he was tiring quickly of carrying all his burdens by himself. Maybe he should take the advice from that song, maybe he should let someone else take care of him for once. Question was, who would want to take care of a half breed? Would Kikyou be willing to? Maybe not, since she had somehow convinced herself that the chance was great that he would never walk again.

Thinking about Kikyou brought another question to his mind. What was he going to do with her? He knew she was lying today, but would she really cheat on him? He wanted to believe she wouldn't but experience told him to always follow his gut feeling and it was telling him she wasn't being completely honest with him. He'd have to find a way to find out, maybe Sesshomaru would know how to. He hated asking his brother for advice let alone favors, yet he knew he would have to if he wanted to find the truth.

He sighed and looked at the time, it was already past 12 AM, time sure flew by when he was thinking. He decided to try to get some sleep since he'd have to wake up early tomorrow. Why in the world did she get an appointment so early anyway? He stopped his train of thought, if he wanted to get some sleep he would have to stop thinking otherwise he might lay awake the whole night.

After a while he managed to fall into a fitful sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hey guys, I'm finally updating again. My life pretty much sucks right now and so I'm not usually in the mood to write. However I managed to write something (and rewrite half of it :S) the last few weeks and this is what I've got so I hope you enjoy the read.

Grtz, JJ

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 6**

Kagome woke up the next day at 6.30 in the morning, the doctor's appointment was at nine and she liked being on time. She'd had a good night's sleep. She missed her old bed at home but this one was actually a lot more comfortable than hers so she had little trouble sleeping.

After getting out of bed, she put on her robe, then took out her clothes for the day and set them on her bed. Afterwards she went to take a shower and came back to her room 15 minutes later wearing only her robe.

She put on her clothes, blue skinny jeans with an off white loose fit tank top and a black cardigan, then pulled her hair up in a high ponytail and put on light make-up. She put on a few accessories and a cute pair of black sandals before taking her black purse with all her necessities, Inuyasha's medical records and a little notebook and leaving her room.

She looked at the time on her watch as she headed to Inuyasha's room to make sure he woke up, it was now a little past 7 AM. She knocked on the door and waited for a few seconds. Not hearing an answer she knocked again, this time a little louder and she heard Inuyasha grumbling unintelligibly. She then knocked a third time and this time she finally got a reply.

"What!" Judging by the way he yelled through the door she knew he was going to be a pain in the ass today and mentally groaned.

"Inuyasha, it's Kagome," she replied, "I'm just making sure you're awake so you can get ready to go to the doctor's today."

"Well, I'm awake now, wench," he growled.

Kagome rolled her eyes, Inuyasha was such a joy in the morning, especially after being woken up this early. She just hoped his mood would improve later on. She even decided to let the name calling slide just this time, she didn't want to aggravate his mood any more than she already had.

"Good, now go get ready and come down for breakfast. Is there anything in particular you would like me to make?"

"Nah, ramen's just fine."

'Ramen? Seriously? At this ungodly hour? Oh right, I forgot Kaede said he practically lived on ramen. He really needs to start eating healthier, I guess I should take care of that until I can get him to hire a personal chef again,' she thought to herself.

"You know what? How about I just surprise you with something? How does that sound?"

"Whatever, just don't try to poison me, I'll smell it before I eat it."

'Poison? Oh my god, he has serious issues. I really need to find a way to convince him to see a psychologist. Although I could understand that a famous wealthy hanyou like him could have so many issues.'

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I'll be in the kitchen, so just hurry up so we can leave on time."

Her only reply was a grunt and she took it as her cue to leave.

It didn't bother her…much. She was trying to adjust to her new situation and she didn't feel like trying to figure out anybody's personality. It was too damn early for that, even for her.

Everything felt different to her, waking up somewhere that wasn't home, in another room, in another bed, even if said bed was better than hers, it still wasn't the same.

Aside from that, her housemate… er… employer actually, was a very grouchy person. He was also living an unhealthy lifestyle, although it didn't surprise her much considering his occupation… and his gender. However, she wondered how the other caretakers have dealt with him in the short period of time they worked with him. Probably not too well, otherwise she wouldn't be working for him right now.

She would have kept pondering if she hadn't reached the kitchen. Since she didn't really know where everything was she put her thoughts aside and went to explore the kitchen before getting all the ingredients to make breakfast.

* * *

Inuyasha had always been a light sleeper, never trusting the people around him, especially at night. Because of this he tends to wake up several times in the middle of the night and usually has trouble falling back asleep.

Like most nights, Inuyasha hadn't dreamed anything last night. Last night it felt odd sleeping in his own home, knowing that he wasn't alone in his house like it's been the last couple of weeks when falling asleep. It made him feel uncomfortable, because the person in the other room was practically a stranger, he hadn't figured her out yet so he kept his guard up. On the other hand it also made him feel just a tiny bit less lonely.

He had only fallen asleep again 15 minutes ago when he heard someone knocking on his bedroom door. He ignored it, thinking whoever it was would just go away since he was known to be even grumpier than usual in the morning.

However, unluckily for him there was a second knock at which he grumbled "go away". A moment later a third knock came and he was just so pissed off that he yelled. If he didn't want to answer the first knocks it meant he didn't want to be disturbed. Couldn't they get fucking a clue?

Looking at the clock on his night stand, he couldn't believe the wench was already awake at this ungodly hour and telling him to get ready for his doctor's appointment. Why did she even set an appointment so early anyway?

He didn't really pay much attention after that, only remembering them mentioning breakfast, ramen and poison. Well shit. The wench had better not try to poison his ramen or there will be hell to pay.

After setting his clothes for the day – boxers, well-worn blue jeans, a comfy red T-shirt and a gray hoody – on the bed, he made his way to his ensuite to take a shower.

One of the first things he learned when starting his rehabilitation was how to be independent. He hated having nurses taking care of him in the hospital, even if he couldn't always feel them touching him from the waist down. He was a private person so he made it a priority to learn how to take care of himself as much as possible. He learned how to take a shower and bath on his own, also how to put on and take off his clothes, even how to get in and out of his wheelchair in any circumstances, like falling for instance.

So by now it was almost second nature to him to do almost everything by himself. After his shower he went back to his room and put on his clothes and his gray converse.

Running a hand through his hair to get some knots out, he deemed himself ready to leave and made his way downstairs to see if the wench was really going to poison his beloved ramen. Although, thinking about it now, if she would use an odorless and tasteless poison his last meal would at least be his favorite food.

'Geez, what the fuck am I thinking? I guess it's too early to think straight.'

Getting out of the newly installed elevator he made his way to the kitchen. Whatever he had thought he would find it definitely wasn't this.

Kagome was walking to the kitchen table, which was set up for two, holding a coffeepot. Breakfast was already on the table. The only thought going through his head was 'when was the last time that I'd had such an elaborate breakfast at home?'

He inhaled quietly and he couldn't deny to himself that it all smelled delicious. Remembering that they mentioned poison a few moments ago, he took another sniff to make sure there was none, at least none that he could smell. Of course there wasn't any, but the way she looked like a perfect little housewife made him wish there was poison so he could kill the part of his brain that thought of that.

"Well, are you going to sit over there and drool all over yourself or are you going to eat?" Kagome suddenly asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

A second later her words registered, his eyes widened a little and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to make sure he really wasn't drooling. He wasn't of course. Kagome just rolled her eyes and her lips curved into a tiny smirk before taking her seat at the table and waited for him to do the same.

Inuyasha noticed that she had put one chair out of the way so he could just slide his own wheelchair at the table. He usually had to ask people to do it for him, so that's one plus point for Kagome. Not that he was going to tell her that, ever.

After taking his place at the table they dug into their breakfast. She made plenty of food since Inuyasha was a hanyou and a guy, they tend to eat a lot. Inuyasha thought she was a good cook but this was another thought he'd rather keep for himself.

By the time they got out of the house it was a little past 8 in the morning. They would have left 10 minutes earlier if they hadn't been arguing about how to get to the clinic. She hadn't brought her car so she asked to use one of his. However, Inuyasha didn't trust her driving skills, mostly because she was a woman. That had led to a whole other argument about stereotyping before they got back on their original subject.

The hanyou had then suggested calling Totosai but Kagome refused saying they would probably be late if they waited for him to come pick them up and take them to the clinic. And Kagome hated being late.

Luckily for Kagome Kaede showed her the garage the day before and she remembered very well how to get there. While Inuyasha was still arguing with her, she made her way to the garage. His protests, however, fell on deaf ears and he only noticed when she saw his new red Escalade. It was one of Inuyasha's favorite cars so he doubled his efforts into convincing her to drive one of his other cars by inventing half a dozen lame excuses.

In the end he relented (somewhat) but only after she mentioned that the Escalade would be better to drive in case they were in another accident, it would protect them better than any of his other cars. Besides, there was enough space to store his wheelchair. He still believed she would be a crappy driver and already feared for his beloved Escalade.

Inuyasha hadn't driven in his Escalade since his accident so he wasn't sure how he was going to get in. With Kagome's help though he got in and she instructed him how to dismantle his wheelchair by himself. It seemed that he knew how to do it but didn't have much practice, he probably got help every time he got into a car.

The drive to the clinic took longer than they had thought since they met with rush hour. It was a good thing the clinic wasn't far away so they made it with just 5 minutes to spare.

They waited about 15 minutes since the doctor was a little late that morning so every appointment up until then ran a little late. When they finally went to his office they were greeted by a very nice and handsome, tanned, dark haired man and were invited to come inside.

Dr. Suikotsu was one of the leading neurologists in LA and he wasn't even 40 years old yet. He had taken Inuyasha as a patient – even though he already had too many on his hands – because he was an old friend of Sesshomaru's and he happened to owe him a favor.

Sesshomaru and Inuyasha had never really gotten along and often fought when they were younger. However that didn't mean that they didn't respect each other in some way, although this unspoken agreement between them happened only a few years back, just after the stoic inu youkai became Demonic's manager.

Now they just tolerate each other, that didn't mean they cared for each other though. At least that's what they say and Sesshomaru made that clear when he hired Dr. Suikotsu. His excuse was that his 'pathetic, weak and sorry excuse for a half-brother' was costing him money every day he spent in his wheelchair.

How the nice doctor and the cold inu youkai ever became friends was a mystery to everyone. But Inuyasha could care less about his half-brother's social life, he only cared about recuperating and start walking again.

When everybody was finally seated the doctor finally went to business.

"So Kagome, it seems it was you they hired as Mr. Takahashi's new caretaker. When did you start?"

"I start today but I moved into Mr. Takahashi's residence yesterday. I wonder if you somehow forgot to mention it or had omitted that piece of information on purpose." Dr. Suikotsu chuckled.

"I can never fool you, can I? I recommended you because you're a great physical therapist Kagome, I just didn't want you to refuse this opportunity because of some issues you've had in the past." Kagome looked at him with a stoic face.

"I don't think it's appropiate to talk about this in front of our patient Dr. Suikotsu. Besides, that's not why we came here for."

"Ah, sorry. You're absolutely right. So tell me, what is it that brings you here?"

"Well, I read Mr. Takahashi's medical records thoroughly several times and we've discussed his rehabilitation yesterday and I just don't understand why he's barely made any progress. He should be feeling a lot more than he is right now so I thought we could do some new tests. Maybe an MRI could help us figure out what's going on."

Dr. Suikotsu had been quietly listening and writing some notes while Kagome talked, then he turned his attention to his patient.

"Mr. Takahashi, how much exactly can you feel right now?"

"Just a tingly feeling every now and then but a few weeks ago I had a little more feeling in my legs, now not so much though."

Kagome was surprised, however a frown soon appeared on her face showing her confusion. 'What? Why didn't he tell me that? How am I supposed to take care of him if he doesn't tell me everything that's wrong with him?' she thought. 'This means that we have to find the cause of his deterioration so it might be even harder and take even longer for him to recover.'

"I see, and have you been taking your medication?"

"Of course I have! I'm doing everything like you said, it's just the physical therapists I've been having trouble with." Dr. Suikotsu frowned.

"What kind of trouble?"

"Well," the hanyou paused, "how the hell should I know? When I started rehab with the first physical therapist I could feel more than I do now, and I remember that he would sometimes do something around my injury and I would feel a sting. He never told me what he did, only that it was part of the rehabilitation. And I just didn't like the others."

Dr. Suikotsu, who was now sporting a thoughtful expression, wrote something down before speaking again.

"Okay, I think Kagome is right, we should schedule you for an MRI as soon as possible and I also want you to do a blood test just in case."

"A blood test? What for?" Kagome asked surprised.

"I just want to make sure everything's alright," the doctor replied.

As soon as he said that he told them to wait a minute before picking up the phone to call his assistant and tell him to make an appointment. He hung up after a few minutes.

"It seems you're in luck today Mr. Takahashi, a patient cancelled his appointment so we have an opening for an MRI scan this afternoon at three. I already made your appointment so just make sure you're there on time." He took out a form, filled it out and handed it to Kagome before continuing. "I think it would be best to take a blood sample as soon as you can. Did you already eat something today Mr. Takahashi?"

"Yeah, I did," the hanyou replied.

"Well then I would suggest that you don't consume anything else for today except for water until you go to the lab this afternoon to get a blood sample. You can go before or after your MRI scan, whatever suits you best."

"Thank you Dr. Suikotsu. I'll make sure he gets his tests done," Kagome said, then stood up and shook his hand.

"Yeah, thanks," said Inuyasha.

"You're welcome. Oh, and make an appointment for tomorrow afternoon so that we can discuss the results. I'll have them ready by then."

Before they could leave the neurologist spoke up again.

"Mr. Takahashi? May I speak with you privately for a second?" His request took both Kagome and Inuyasha by surprise.

"Uh, yeah sure." He then turned to Kagome, "go set up the appointment with Sharon in the meantime."

Kagome nodded, said goodbye to Dr. Suikotsu before shutting the door behind her.

"So, what's up?" asked Inuyasha.

"Why didn't you tell Kagome everything?" he asked sternly.

"'Cause I don't know if I should trust her and until I figure her out I won't." The dark haired doctor sighed.

"Mr. Takahashi, I didn't recommend her for nothing. She's one of the best PT's in LA and every patient she's ever had had no complaints whatsoever, on the contrary they only praise her and so does everyone else at the rehab center. I'm offering you the chance to work with one of the best physical therapists I've ever met. So if you want to recuperate soon you're going to have to trust her and work together. If not your recovery might take longer. I'm sure you wouldn't want that."

"Listen doc, it's my life and I decide what to do with it. You might trust her because you know her but she hasn't given me any reason to trust her yet so I until then won't."

"At least promise to give her a chance to show you what she can do, that's all I ask."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but I'm not promising anything." Dr. Suikotsu sighed.

"Can't say that I didn't try, huh? But I hope you at least keep Kagome working for you longer than you kept your other care takers. I really think that she can speed up your recovery and have you walking sooner than you think… Anyways I think you better get going, Kagome should be done already."

"Yeah, whatever," Inuyasha replied before turning around and wheeled himself out of the office.

When he met up with Kagome outside the office she had just finished speaking with Sharon. The young physical therapist then turned her attention to the paraplegic hanyou.

"Well, it's 9.45 right now. What do you want to do? We can go back to the mansion or maybe somewhere else if you'd like," she offered.

"Just take me to my parent's house, there's nothing to do at home anyway."

Kagome nodded and led the way to the SUV and they were soon on their way. This time she didn't have to help him get in the car or with his wheelchair, apparently he's a fast learner.

Inuyasha gave her directions since she'd only been to the mansion once before and was so focused on preparing herself for the interview that she hadn't paid attention at how she'd gotten there. This time she paid better attention and made sure to remember how to get there.

It was almost 10.30 when they arrived at the Takahashi mansion. They just went inside instead of knocking on the door or ring the doorbell, Inuyasha said he always did that when she was about to protest.

As she closed the door she noticed Inuyasha sniffing around and his eyes widening. Even a smile appeared on his face. She's known the hanyou only for a day but noticed that he almost always scowled and rarely smiled so she was definitely interested in whatever or whoever made him smile.

She didn't have to wait long before she saw a silver haired, violet eyed young woman squealing and running into the inu hanyou's arms and sitting on his lap.

"Yash! I've missed you so much," she cried happily.

* * *

A/N: This chapter was a little longer but I thought it would be a good idea to end it here otherwise I'd have a really long chapter and it would have taken me longer to update.

Anyway, I hope you liked it so please review and tell me what you think. Till next time.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hi guys, thank you so much to all of you who read and/or reviewed the last chapter. I was so motivated that I just kept writing and this is what I've got. So have fun reading and let me know what you think ;).

Grtz, JJ.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 7**

"Yash! I've missed you so much," the girl cried happily, holding him tightly.

Kagome could immediately tell the young woman was a hanyou and was positive she was Inuyasha's relative. She looked a lot like Inuyasha too. Their faces were almost identical and she had the same beautiful silver locks as him, however she had no dog ears and violet eyes instead of golden ones that most inu youkai and hanyou of the Takahashi family had.

She was also a very beautiful young woman who seemed to be at least 21 years old, but with youkai and hanyou you never know how old they really were.

Inuyasha chuckled and held her affectionately. "I've missed you too squirt. But what are you doing here? Last time you were here you said you wouldn't be back for at least a few more months."

"Well, your accident made me put my life into perspective. I hated the fact that I couldn't be here for you when you needed me the most. And that's when I realized I couldn't be away from my family anymore so I decided to come back home earlier. It took me a lot longer than I thought to get all my affairs in New York in order but now I'm back for good," she replied happily.

Inuyasha looked at her fondly and then hugged her tightly.

"Thanks Shiori, you have no idea how much this means to me, to us. We've missed you a lot the last few years. When did you get back anyway?"

"Last night, I was actually going to surprise you later on today after unpacking."

Inuyasha then let her go and she stood up. It was only then that they noticed that Kagome was standing there smiling and had witnessed everything. Inuyasha's scowl returned and he turned his face to the side 'cause he could feel a light blush appearing on his cheeks. He couldn't believe he let his guard down in front of her again, he was finding it very odd that it kept happening when she was around and he was getting tired of it too.

He mentally scolded himself, he hadn't even known the woman for an entire day and he'd already been letting his guard down without even knowing it. There was just something about her that made him do it subconsciously, he just didn't know what yet but the sooner he'd figure it out the sooner he could avoid embarrassing himself in front of her again.

The other hanyou looked at Kagome suspiciously, as if trying to figure her out. 'What is it about this family and scrutinizing her? Or maybe it's just a hanyou thing?' Kagome thought to herself.

About a minute of silence passed since they noticed her and it appeared that Inuyasha had no intention of introducing her, or maybe he was just too embarrassed, especially after such display of affection and in front of a stranger no less. So she decided not to mention it until he was ready to do so. It was best to observe her patient and try to understand him before choosing a way to help him.

'Things would be so much easier if he had gotten himself a psychologist,' the physical therapist thought to herself.

Kagome looked Shiori with a smile before she introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Kagome Higurashi. I'm Inuyasha's new physical therapist," she said extending her hand out.

"I'm Shiori Takahashi, his younger sister. It's nice to meet you." She shook Kagome's hand and then turned her attention to Inuyasha. "Yet another physical therapist? What was wrong with the last one? And what are you doing here so early anyway? You're never awake before noon."

"First of all, the last therapist was molesting me more than doing his actual job. I never realized what he was doing until the last day he worked for me, I almost killed the guy right then too. Secondly, the wench here made an early doctor's appointment so I had no choice but to wake up early. And I _never_ wake up before noon, this was just an exception," he said this last part looking Kagome straight in the eyes trying to get her to submit to him.

She just rolled her eyes. "That reminds me, you and I need to have a talk when you're in a better mood and I would appreciate it if you would not call me by any names that are not my own. And as for waking up early, I suggest you get used to it," said Kagome firmly.

"Listen wench, I can call you whatever I want and I will wake up whenever the hell I want."

"No, you listen, dog-boy," she replied losing her patience fast. "I don't tolerate people calling me names so I suggest you stop."

Inuyasha didn't feel like arguing at the moment, it seemed that this was going to be a frequent occurrence and for once he wasn't looking forward to it just because the other party involved her. She was different than most other people he'd met. She didn't care that he was wealthy, famous or a hanyou. She treated him like he'd seen her treat everybody else.

This gave him mixed feelings. At one hand he felt relieved that she treated him like a normal person, but on the other hand he wished she would know her place. She was going to make him go crazy if they kept arguing like that, guys knew when to quit but she didn't. They were both stubborn people, so things would probably end in disaster.

"Keh. Whatever, you can't do anything to me anyway" he said dully. He was not in the mood and too tired to make it sound convincing.

Shiori gasped dramatically. "Is the great Inuyasha actually giving up so easily? Well, this is definitely a rare occurrence. If I hadn't witnessed it myself I would never believe it," said Shiori teasingly.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "It's too early to argue right now, and besides, I really don't give a shit."

Kagome sighed inwardly, it seems she'd have to wait until later to talk to the rock star. He wouldn't pay any attention right now anyway, it would just be a waste of time.

Shiori decided to take them to one of the living rooms so they could talk more at ease.

"You and I are going to have that talk, Inuyasha, I mean it," she said sternly. "How about this afternoon after we get your tests done?"

Inuyasha rolled her eyes at her before saying, "Keh, whatever wench."

Kagome sighed, he was still being a pain in the ass, although considerably less since he saw his sister. However, she still did not look forward to their talk, she was already anticipating a one-sided conversation. "In the meantime, what do you want to do? We have a few hours to kill before we have to be back at the clinic," said Kagome while they were on their way to the living room.

"Is everything all right, Inuyasha? Why did you go to the doctor's today?" asked Shiori worriedly.

"You have nothing to worry about, Shiori. I'm just taking some routine tests to see how my recovery is going," replied the older hanyou.

Shiori seemed worried but accepted his answer anyway. She knew that her brother wouldn't want to make her worry over nothing. He'd always been like that, just like everyone else. They tried to spare her the hardships of life so that she wouldn't have to worry about anything, so that she could be happy. This made her both appreciative of her family but at the same time it also frustrated her.

Kagome didn't like lying to people but it was none of her business how Inuyasha dealt with his family. Besides, they weren't sure what caused his recovery to stagnate, that's what the tests were for. If there was nothing wrong then there was no point in making his family worry over nothing. She understood his reasons, but she also knew how his family must be feeling. She had, after all, firsthand knowledge in the worries and frustration of a paraplegic's family.

"All right, if you say so," the younger hanyou replied.

It was quiet for a few moments, Shiori was still looking concerned and Kagome felt the need to comfort her, she always hated seeing people concerned or unhappy.

Inuyasha zoned out and thought about everything that had happened the day before, mostly about his fight with Kikyou last night. He couldn't help but feel like they were drifting apart. He didn't love her but he liked her enough to care about her, however her behavior the last few weeks made him reconsider what he wanted in their relationship.

Hell, ever since his accident he'd been thinking about what he'd done in his life and what he wanted to accomplish. His childhood wasn't all that great but it wasn't that bad either, he started his career ten years ago and has been through a lot ever since Demonic became famous. He'd lived the rock star life, experimented with drugs and alcohol, and slept with many women, pretty much everything that came with being a famous rock star.

That all felt great at the time however, deep down he knew that none of that really made him happy. The only way he felt any kind of peace and happiness was when he was alone, playing his guitar and singing, or even when writing new songs.

He'd always been a lonely type of guy, he never needed anyone around to make him happy. Well, he'd always make an exception for his mother and his little sister. Actually, he secretly enjoyed having people around him, not all the time though, they tend to get on his nerves.

Ever since they became famous, he and the guys have enjoyed life to the fullest. At least that's what he thought until his accident. Now he'd often find himself thinking about the future, about having a family of his own. That possibility had never crossed his mind before, he'd always thought nobody would ever have his child (willingly), not counting the women who were willing to do it only for the money.

Thinking about that, he didn't really know if Kikyou would want that. She seemed happy in their relationship although he couldn't always be sure, she always had a stoic expression and he couldn't always read her very well. They had only been dating for five months before the accident, that wasn't long enough to know if she was _the__one_.

She moved in with him after the accident, saying she wanted to help take care of him. It sounded great at first and she seemed like she really cared. They even seemed to get closer the first few weeks but now he just felt neglected by her.

She wasn't home nearly as much as she was when he was released from the hospital. She always had to work long hours, lately though she worked until late at night. Besides, she'd always come home freshly showered and wearing her favorite perfume which irritated his nose. He hadn't told her last night that he'd noticed it though, he had already jumped to conclusions and accused her of cheating. He didn't even have any concrete proof, only suspicions. So maybe she was telling the truth and he accused her because he was just scared of being lonely.

He'd never had any trouble getting a girl, but that was before the accident. Now that he was paralyzed the chances of someone actually wanting him for him and not for fame, money or sex were slim. He was almost sure that Kikyou didn't want all that from him, but he couldn't help but start to doubt her with the way she had been behaving lately.

He felt guilty for thinking like that but what else could he do when she behaved so suspiciously. She's never there for him anymore, all she thinks about is herself. He didn't buy her pathetic excuse last night and now that he thought about it, it seemed even more ridiculous. His family had more money than necessary, they were never going to go broke if he couldn't work anymore. And that's not counting his own money he'd earned in the last decade.

Suddenly he felt the need to write, the only problem was that he didn't have his notebook with him. And he wasn't sure he was going to remember anything by the time they got home.

Kagome observed him the whole time, seeing all the emotions pass across his face made her realize that he was confused about something and because of that he was suffering. She even recognized the look he got and his hand start to twitch with the need to write. She reacted the same way whenever she got inspiration and hated it when she could not put anything on paper.

He looked around trying to find a maid or butler to ask for a pen and some paper but couldn't find anyone. He'd just decided to ask Shiori to go and get something for him to write when a notebook and a pen appeared in his lap.

He looked up with wide eyes and saw Kagome standing back up after having to bend down to give him the items with a knowing look on her face. He wanted to ask how she knew but the words wouldn't come out, he was too stunned momentarily. But he didn't have to ask since she started to explain herself anyway.

"I would recognize that urge to write in anyone, I myself get inspiration at the oddest of times. That's why I carry a notebook and pen whenever I'm not at home."

The golden eyed hanyou had an unbelievable look on his face. This woman just kept surprising him and was making it more difficult for him to figure her out. One moment she was this seemingly perfect woman who seemed to understand him in ways very few people did, then she'd be so infuriatingly stubborn that he almost felt like shaking her to make her realize that he just wanted to be left alone.

He sighed and cracked a barely visible smile but the two women with him noticed it anyway. His eyes however did show he appreciated it.

Kagome then turned to Shiori when she heard her speak. "How about we leave this grumpy puppy to his writing? Would you like a snack or something to drink?"

Kagome smiled and accepted her offer. Inuyasha also asked her sister to bring him something but Kagome immediately told her not to give him anything but water since he still had to have blood work done that afternoon.

"Do you want to take a blood sample before your MRI-scan? That way we can grab something to eat earlier," the physical therapist asked the dog-eared hanyou.

"I don't see why I can't eat before I take the damned blood sample. It's not like the results will be different if there's something wrong," he replied.

"Actually whatever you consume may affect the results and it's important that they'd be as accurate as possible. We don't want to be wrong and make a mistake in your treatment. I hope you understand that everything we tell you to do is for a good reason, so please just follow all our instructions."

Inuyasha thought she made a good point so he wasn't going to argue but also because he really needed to write down his feelings.

"Keh. Fine, whatever. Just go already, I really need to write."

The two young women smiled and left without another word.

"Would you mind just going to the kitchen instead of the other living room Miss Higurashi? It's one of my favorite places to be in this house," Shiori asked the PT.

"There's no need to be formal with me Miss Takahashi, just call me Kagome. And the kitchen is fine, whenever I have my friends over at my house we tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen anyway."

"All right, but if I get to call you Kagome then I insist you call me Shiori," she said happily.

"Okay then. So where is this kitchen anyway?" Kagome asked excitedly. She already liked Shiori and hoped they could become friends someday.

"It's this way," Shiori replied and led the way to the kitchen. She liked Kagome, she wasn't like most other girls who would do anything to get the attention of her famous brother. On the contrary, she seemed to want to do her job, even if it meant putting the dog-eared hanyou in his place. Not many people had the guts to do that and she even gets away with it. For this she admired her already.

Once in the kitchen they got to know each other while munching on some light snacks and tea. Kagome learned that Shiori had been working in New York the last two and a half years because she wanted to prove to everyone but mostly to herself that she didn't need her family to make a name for herself.

She was the lesser known child of the Takahashi family and she had always been grateful for it. She never cared much for fame or money although she did admit that she sometimes did use it to her advantage but only when necessary.

Shiori was a lawyer for an entertainment company when she lived in New York but now she was considering going to work for their family business. She would basically do the same thing which was making contracts and everything else that came with it. However, she didn't want to do that anymore, she wanted to be more involved with the talents themselves but she still had time to make a final decision.

When Kagome asked her what other careers she was considering she said she always liked to tag along with Sesshomaru when he began his career as band manager and she had learned a lot from him as well. So she was considering this the most.

Shiori then asked about Kagome's life and she told her little about her family, and of course about her father's paraplegia. She also talked about how she came to become a physical therapist and how she ended up being Inuyasha's newest therapist.

The conversation then went about the hanyou in question and Shiori mentioned that he had always been grouchy but ever since his accident he seemed more depressed. She then told the raven haired woman that she felt helpless to just stand and watch her brother be consumed by darkness while she could do nothing to help him.

Kagome told her that she knew from experience that most of her patients hated being pitied because others could never understand what it was like to not feel anything. And the only thing they really ever wanted from their family and friends was their support, to know they were not alone and that they didn't have to carry such a heavy burden by themselves.

That's why she suggested that Shiori just be there for her brother, whenever he needed it. And by observing the hanyou she had already concluded that he would most likely not ask for help directly. So she advised the violet-eyed hanyou to pay attention to her brother because he would ask for help in his own way instead of asking with words.

Shiori was impressed with Kagome, she'd only known her brother for a day and she already understood his personality in a way others wouldn't understand by knowing him for such a short period of time.

"So you're going to be living at home now?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, I have nowhere else to go anyway. But I want to spend time with my family as much as I can. I think I'll move out when I get a job though. It's not that I don't like living at home, but a girl needs her space once in a while, don't you agree?"

"Well, I've lived with my parents until yesterday. But they always gave me my space, they understood my reasons for staying at home."

"You never wanted to move out?"

"Actually, I almost did once. I was going to move in with my boyfriend from back then but things didn't work out between us and we broke up before I moved out."

"Oh, that sucks. Why did you break up?"

"Well," Kagome hesitated, "it turned out that he was not the kind of person I thought he was. And I learned that the hard way."

"I'm sorry, I understand if you don't want to talk about it. It must be a painful memory and we just met so there's no need to tell me something so personal."

"It's okay, but thanks for understanding. I just wish it wasn't just me and Inuyasha living at his house 'cause it seems that Kikyou isn't always there which in turn makes him even more depressed. I wonder if she knows that she's hurting him by not being there for him."

"Kikyou's not always there? Why is that?"

"I don't really know, Demonic and Shikon Girls visited last night and that's what they told me. Apparently she's always working while Inuyasha is left home alone. It's not any of my business actually but I'm thinking about addressing this issue to her. Inuyasha is my patient so I want to do everything I can to help him recover and him being depressed doesn't help at all."

"I'm not sure she'll listen to you, Kagome. You don't know Kikyou like we do, she's a cold fish. And she hates being told what to do, especially in her house, although technically it's Inuyasha's but she considers everything his hers even though they're not even married."

"There must be something else we can do to get him out of his depression though, I won't just stand around and watch my patient destroy himself."

"If only things were like when we were kids, those were his best years. Things only got bad when he was a teenager. He always took care of me though, and he's one of my best friends. I'd do anything for him."

This peaked Kagome's interest and an idea formulated in her head.

"You would do _anything_ to help him?" Kagome asked the hanyou seriously.

"Of course, why wouldn't I? I just don't know what to do to help."

"I have an idea but I'm not sure he's gonna like it." Kagome paused." I'm not even sure you're gonna like it," she said thoughtfully.

"Well, what is it?" Shiori asked impatiently.

"What do you think about moving in with them? I mean, Inuyasha seems pretty lonely and depressed since Kikyou is rarely home and things are still awkward between him and I because we just met yesterday and it's obvious he doesn't trust strangers. I think having you living with him would definitely make him happier or at least more relaxed. What do you think?"

"Are you serious? Are you even allowed to ask me to go live with him?" They both laughed.

"Of course not, it's his house but I'm sure you can come up with something to convince him to let you live with him."

"Well, if you think it will help him then, why not? I just don't know a very good reason. Got any ideas?"

"How about you just tell him the truth? Tell him that you've missed him and want to spend as much time with him as possible and would very much like to live with him to catch up and support him in his any way you can."

"That's good, I'll go with that. So when do we ask him?"

"_We_ are not asking him, _you_ are. And I suggest the sooner the better, like maybe now?"

Shiori sighed and stood up. "Fine, you stay here and I'll go ask him."

* * *

Inuyasha looked through the notebook, looking for a blank page. He read a few of Kagome's poems and thought that she definitely had talent. He also wondered if she had ever turned any of her poems into songs when one of her poems caught his attention.

_The burning desire to live and roam free__  
__It shines in the dark and it grows within me__  
__You're holding my hand but you don't understand__  
__So where I am going, you won't be in the end_

_I'm dreaming in colors__  
__Of getting the chance__  
__I'm dreaming of trying the perfect romance__  
__In search of the door to open your mind__  
__In search of the cure of mankind_

_Help us we're drowning__  
__So closed up inside_

_Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?__  
__Why does it have to kill the ideal of who we are?__  
__Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?__  
__And when the lights die down, telling us who we are?_

_I'm searching for answers__  
__not given for free__  
__They're hidden inside, is there life within me?__  
__You're holding my hand but you don't understand__  
__So I'm taking the road all alone in the end_

_I'm dreaming in colors, no boundaries are there__  
__I'm dreaming the dream, we all seem to share__  
__In search of the door, to open your mind__  
__In search of the cure of mankind_

He suddenly had a burst of inspiration and was already thinking up a melody to make this poem into a song. He quickly wrote down the chords so he wouldn't forget.

After finding a blank page he began writing down his feelings, he had a very emotional day yesterday and the best way he could express himself was on paper and maybe afterwards he'd turn them into songs.

He didn't know how much time went by but by the time he smelled his sister coming his way he had already written a whole song and the chords. He sighed contently, he was glad to get it all off his chest and he seemed happy with his creation.

Now the only thing he'd have to do was play the song and listen to how it sounded outside of his head. Thinking how the song would sound in his head was one thing and how it actually sounded was another but Inuyasha was rarely wrong. He was proud of his talent, he can create a whole song in his mind before putting everything on paper. It's partly because of that that his career had lasted this long.

"Am I interrupting you, Yash?"

Inuyasha closed the notebook and put it on the coffee table. "Nope, just finished. Where's the wench?"

"She's still in the kitchen. Listen, we were talking and she told me that the guys told her you were having problems with Kikyou."

Inuyasha scowled deeply. "She had no right telling you that. If I wanted you to know I'd have told you."

"But you didn't and it doesn't matter if she told me anyway, the girls would have told me sooner or later anyway so I don't see the problem."

"Shiori, she's the physical therapist, not a friend. So whatever happens in my life is none of her business."

"I understand, but I asked her how you were doing and she told me, there's nothing wrong with that. She's just concerned about you, she can see that it's affecting you. Hell, even I can tell it's affecting you."

"Look Shiori, I love you but this isn't any of your business either. Whatever happens between Kikyou and me is between us alone. So please let me handle things."

Shiori sighed. "Fine, but if she hurts you she's going to have to deal with me before she has to deal with everyone else. We love you and don't want to see you getting hurt." She paused before continuing. "And speaking about caring about you, I've been thinking about asking you something. Do you think I can move in with you?"

Inuyasha sat there stunned, he had not expected this. Not that he'd mind, actually he would love that, it would mean that he wouldn't be alone all the time and his house wouldn't be so empty anymore either.

Shiori kept talking while he was thinking to himself. "I know I can stay here but I came back especially for you and I want to spend as much time as I can with you, just like when we were kids."

He was silent for a moment and Shiori took it the wrong way.

"It's okay, Yash. If you don't want to you can just say so, you don't have to think of a way to let me down easy."

Inuyasha chuckled. "Why would you think I'd turn you down," he wheeled himself over to her and took her hands in his. "I've missed you a lot too, squirt. And I'd love it if you would come live with me." He said sincerely.

Shiori squealed and hugged her brother tightly. "It's going to be awesome living with you, I can't wait. Oh, I have to tell Kagome the good news, I'll be right back."

She left the living room before Inuyasha could utter a word. He sighed and smiled to himself, he wouldn't be so alone anymore. Shiori would be living with him soon and Kikyou promised to work less so she would be home more often. Things seemed to be looking up for him.

Thinking about Kikyou reminded him that he had promised to talk to her before making any decisions. He was going to have to tell her tonight, and if she had any complains he wouldn't care, he wanted his little sister close to him. Kikyou would just have to understand.

He took out his cellphone and quickly texted his girlfriend saying he had something to tell her tonight. Right when he was finished the girls arrived in the living room.

Kagome then told him that it was time to go. But before they left Inuyasha gave Shiori his house key and told her to take her things to his house as soon as possible so they could all go out to dinner together tonight.

Soon they were on their way back to the clinic. After five minutes of silence Kagome noticed he was in a much better mood and decided there was only one way to fill the silence.

"So, how about we have that talk right now?"


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hi guys, thanks so much to everyone who added this story to their Favorites and/or Story Alert. You guys keep me motivated.

So have fun reading and let me know what you think ;)

Grtz, JJ

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Within Temptation's _Utopia_**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 8**

"So, how about we have that talk right now?"

Inuyasha, who had been silently looking out the passenger window, turned his head to her slowly with a deadpanned expression. He eyed her carefully, trying to figure out if she was really serious. She was, he concluded.

'She does not give up, does she?' He thought to himself.

He really didn't want to talk to her, seeing his sister again had actually cheered him up a little and this talk would most likely bring his whole mood down again. Was she seriously not going to let him enjoy this little happiness even for a moment?

Thinking he was most definitely not going to let her bring his mood down, he made the decision to just ignore her. He was the employer damn it, so she could say whatever she wanted but that didn't mean he had to listen. Besides, he had to find a way to make her realize that she worked for him now so she'd have to do what he wanted, not the other way around.

With that in mind he turned back to the passenger window and tried to think about anything that didn't involve the sweet smelling woman sitting next to him. That seemed to be kind of a problem though, her scent still affected him somehow and he didn't like it –well, except for his demonic blood, which just reveled whenever it got a hint of her scent.

He felt mixed feelings whenever he was around her. His demonic side felt oddly at ease but he didn't know what to make of his demon behaving that way whenever she was around. And his human side didn't know what to make of it yet which had him on edge when he was close to her, trying to figure out what she would do to him every time he let his guard down.

Kagome kept her eyes on the road but glanced at him from the corner of her eye once or twice to gauge his reaction. She knew he didn't want to have this talk, especially not now that he was in a better mood than she'd seen since she'd met him but she didn't want to lose the opportunity to have a good talk to him. She had a feeling that he wouldn't really listen if he were in a bad mood, which was seemingly most of the time.

She had expected him to complain and come up with half a dozen lame excuses. She had not, however, expected him to give her the silent treatment. 'That's interesting, who would have thought he actually had the ability of being quiet?' she mused.

She decided to humor him for a while, using the time to choose her words carefully. A few moments later she thought his silence might actually come in handy, she didn't want him to interrupt her before saying everything she was going to say.

"All right, how about I talk and if you have something to say _after_ I'm done talking then you may speak up."

Inuyasha kept ignoring her, at least that's what he wanted her to believe. While he was looking out the window he thought about what his mother had to do in order to hire Kagome. Of all the times to feel guilty it had to be now. He didn't like disappointing his mother so he told himself he was only going to listen to her for his mother's sake.

Kagome knew immediately that she had his attention. From the corner of her eye she could see his cute dog ears twitch the slightest bit, it was probably an involuntary reaction or he just didn't think she would notice it and know he was listening. Either way she decided to keep talking.

"Look, we've only known each other for a day but I've been observing you. Don't take it the wrong way though, it kinda comes with the job," said Kagome. She decided she would not mention that his friends and family were concerned about him. She didn't think he would take that very well, mostly because she was practically a stranger and they voiced their concerns to her anyway.

"Anyway, what I'm going to say now is strictly my professional opinion so don't take it the wrong way." She glanced at him briefly before turning her attention back to the road. "I think you might be suffering from some kind of depression. However, I'm no psychologist and I haven't known you long enough so I can't say if it's because of the accident alone or if it originated before that. In any case, I, personally, believe you should see a psychologist. It's not because you're crazy, far from it actually, but it seems you have unresolved issues that a psychologist would be able to help you with."

His ears twitched so she knew he had listened, however, he didn't seem to give any other reaction. She decided to keep talking to get it all out in case he did want to interrupt her.

"Another thing I wanted to talk about – more like ask, really – is for you to keep an open mind about me. I'm not asking you to trust me, that's something you have to decide for yourself, but I'd appreciate it if you would have an open mind so that we can work better on your therapy. It would help a lot, but I'd also understand if you're hesitant, considering what you've been through with your previous caregivers. It's my job to take care of you but I can't do that if you keep things from me.

"Had you told me yesterday what your previous caregivers had done, or in this case not done, I would have pulled some strings and you could have done your tests last night and we would've known by now what went wrong. Do you realize that they may have done something, purposely or accidentally, to screw with your recovery?"

This information made Inuyasha's heart skip a beat. He hadn't thought of that, but why didn't he? Being a hanyou, he was always paranoid about what people could do to him, however, when he really had to be wary of people the most he let his guard down, let his disability blind him and trusted those caregivers with his recovery. But the only reason he did so was because Kikyou had convinced him to. So did that mean that they had also deceived her or did she know? And how could he be certain that Kagome wouldn't be the same as them?

He decided there was only one way to find out, although it may take some time. He quickly took out his cellphone and texted someone before putting his phone away again and went back to staring out the window.

Kagome had been silent to let her question sink in. She thought it weird that his only reaction was to text someone. She hoped he had taken her seriously and would try to find out why his former caregivers had neglected him. The only thing she was certain of right now was that no matter how bad the damage was she was going to fix it. And she had a feeling she was going to have to use her special ability in order to heal him.

"Do you really think it was one of them that fucked me up?" He asked quietly.

It had been almost ten minutes since she had last spoken, she hadn't expected him to talk to her at all by now but was glad he did.

"I can't really say, we'd have to check them out. The only thing I know for certain is that they didn't work for our rehab center and could never work with us anyway, not with the way they worked. Their reports weren't thorough which I find a little suspicious, they were either poorly trained physical therapists or they neglected you on purpose to hinder your recovery."

"I'm already having them checked out, even you," he said seriously.

Kagome smiled. "That's okay, I have nothing to hide…From you anyway. I would appreciate it though if you and your investigator would keep the information for yourselves. If I feel like sharing my life with others I would rather do it myself."

"I guess I could do that. But you could also tell me right now what it is that you don't want other people to know. It doesn't matter if you don't though, I'll find out sooner or later."

Kagome chuckled. "I don't mind telling you right now, I'm just not sure if you'll believe me, at least not until you find confirmation."

"Try me," Inuyasha said smirking.

She sighed. "Alright. There are two things I'd rather tell you myself. The rest is not that important. Firstly, my father is Ken Higurashi."

Inuyasha blinked once. Twice. He didn't know if she was being serious.

"Ken Higurashi? As in my favorite guitarist? My idol? No way! I don't believe you. You probably read that in a magazine and you're just playing with me."

The physical therapist smirked. "I'm telling you the truth. If you'd use your senses you'd know I'm not lying. Besides, your investigator will gives you all the information later on."

He checked her for a moment, she didn't show signs of lying. Her heartbeat and breathing was normal, she wasn't perspiring uncontrollably, and she wasn't acting differently than he'd seen her act the whole day he'd known her.

"Keh, whatever." He was silent for a moment before asking what he and a lot of people have wanted to know for a long time. "What exactly happened to him? He just pretty much disappeared after the incident and no one's ever heard of him again."

Kagome suddenly sported a sad expression and debated silently what to tell him. This had always been a touchy subject for her. She sighed before she decided to tell him what her father and her family had gone through, if only to let him know that he wasn't the only one who knew what being paralyzed felt like.

"My dad…He's a great father and we missed him a lot whenever he was on the road. But every spare time he had he would spend it my mother, my little brother and I. I was sixteen and didn't have my driver's license yet so my mother still drove me to and from school.

"I was attending L.A. County High School for the Arts so a lot of people knew who I was because of my father. I was only popular the first week of high school because they all saw me as Ken Higurashi's daughter, but all I ever wanted was for people to see me as me, as Kagome. After they noticed I wasn't giving back the attention they were giving me they just ignored me but some kids started to treat me badly. That's why I would usually stay until about an hour after school, by then there were very few students left at school and not many people would bother me.

"One Friday afternoon Dad wanted to surprise me by picking me up after school. He'd been on tour for three months and we were expecting him to return home the next day so when I saw him standing in front of the school I was really happy to see him. I ran to him and hugged him tightly and told him how much I missed him. I don't know how long we were hugging each other but suddenly there was a woman with a crazed expression and a gun in her hand standing about 20 feet from us. I don't really remember what she said but it was something about how she wanted my father for herself and the only way to do so was to get rid of everything that stood in her way, his family."

Kagome paused and took a deep breath to keep her composure in check before continuing.

"I remember she looked angry, she was yelling the entire time and she wasn't holding the gun steadily. She was shaking so much. My father tried to talk to her, to make her realize what she was doing but she didn't listen.

"My father had pulled me behind his back and began backing up slowly to put more distance between us and the woman. Then all of the sudden she shot at us, my father was hit in the shoulder but he just turned around and pushed me and we started running. But we didn't get that far enough when I heard another shot and my father fell on top of me, bringing me down with him.

"I managed to get out from under him and saw security guards disarming and apprehending the woman. She was still screaming but I don't remember what she said because all I remember is looking down at my father. His shirt was covered in blood, I panicked and lifted his shirt to see where he was hurt.

"The bullet was near his spine and I could see blood was still pouring out of his wound and the only thing I could think of doing was to stop the bleeding. So I pressed my hands on the wound, I don't know how much time passed but suddenly someone put their hands over mine and when I looked up I saw it was the paramedics.

"They were talking to me but I guess I was too agitated to make out what they were saying. They took me away from my father and I went crazy, I didn't want to leave him so they gave me a tranquilizer. The next thing I remember I was in the hospital, my mother and brother were in the room with me. I didn't immediately remember what happened but when I did my mom told me what they thought had happened. I filled her in on the rest, of what I could remember anyway.

"My dad was still in surgery and we had a long wait. When the doctor told us he was alive we were all relieved but then he said he might be paralyzed. We didn't know what to feel. On one hand we were happy he was still alive but on the other hand he might be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life."

She paused momentarily. She had tears in her eyes and she blinked them away while she taking another deep breath.

"Luckily," she continued, "he wasn't completely paralyzed and he started rehabilitation soon but things didn't go so well. His recovery was slow, that's when my mother and I started to learn about physical therapy so we could help him as much as we could.

"I had stopped going to school by then, because I already had enough pressure as it was being Ken Higurashi's daughter. But everyone wanted to know what had happened and I just couldn't stand being there anymore, especially where the shooting happened. I decided to be home schooled, I didn't want to be out of the house much except for whenever it was necessary.

"We had also moved a few months later since my father had other stalkers besides that one woman. It was best to lay low for a while but his recovery was going very slow. It took a few years for him to be able to walk on his own again and we decided we liked living a normal life. Besides, Dad would do anything to make sure we were all safe, even if it meant giving up his career when we all knew it hurt him to give up his dream for good."

Inuyasha had listened to her intently and was now much more convinced she was speaking the truth when she said who her father was. He'd noticed that these memories were very painful for her and he felt a little guilty for making her remember. He knew very well how bad memories could haunt you but he didn't know what to say to make her feel better, he never knew the right thing to say.

They were both silent for a moment when Inuyasha broke the silence.

"I'm sorry. About what happened and for making you remember. I know a thing or two about painful memories myself… So when can I meet him?"

Kagome looked at him as if he'd grown another head before she started laughing. She wondered if he knew that he had actually cheered her back up. She wasn't going to tell him though.

Her laugh caught him off guard, he had no idea what she found funny but he felt good knowing that he'd cheered her up somehow. He didn't know why it felt good though, he blamed it on his demonic blood. It was making him feel things he'd never felt before and think things he'd never thought before and right now he didn't want to figure out why so he pushed everything to the back of his mind.

"You're unbelievable you know? One minute you're nice and then you blow it by being rude," she said, chuckling afterwards. "What are you doing this Sunday?"

"Huh? Sunday? I don't know, why?"

Kagome smiled. "Every Sunday we have a family brunch and we play some music or something, it's kind of a tradition. Music is the one thing our family can find comfort in so we make sure we do it together as much as possible, it keeps us together. If you're not busy Sunday you can come and meet my family."

The hanyou's eyes widened widely. This woman just kept surprising him.

"You're serious?" Kagome nodded. "I wouldn't want to intrude though."

Kagome rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "Really, it's no problem at all. I've met your friends and family already, well most of them anyway. So there's no reason you couldn't meet mine. Besides, I want to see the look on my brother's face when he sees his idol in person."

The rock star chuckled and shook his head. "What are the odds of me being the idol of my idol's son?"

Kagome just smiled, waiting for him to accept or decline her invitation. But she also thought that he seemed a little more at ease than before, maybe her father's story had helped him somewhat. She hoped so. She also hoped he would accept the invitation so he could talk with her father, he might help him a lot.

"Sure, why not? Just don't wake me up too early." Kagome smiled and nodded before going back to her thoughts.

She suddenly remembered that she had to tell him her other secret, she hadn't wanted to reveal it while he was in a bad mood, he would probably not take it very well. Right now was the best time to tell him, even if it could bring his mood down.

"There is another secret I want to tell you personally." She made sure she had his attention before continuing. "I hope you keep an open mind, this is something that only a few people know and they only know because it was necessary for them to know or because I chose to tell them." She paused, took a deep breath and turned to look him in the eyes. "I have spiritual powers," she said seriously.

She eyed him carefully, trying to gauge his reaction but she had to turn her attention back to the road. When she turned back to him he was looking straight ahead and sporting a blank expression. This unnerved her but she wanted to make sure he understood what she did with her powers.

"I know this must be unexpected but I want you to understand what I do with my spiritual energy. I'm a healer, and I know enough spells to defend myself but I deliberately chose to learn those instead of attacking spells." The only reaction she got was the twitching of his ears and she sighed in relief. He had at least heard her but she was worried about what he would think of her. She hadn't meant to keep her powers a secret but it hadn't come up in any conversation yet and it wasn't as if he could sense it.

Whatever Inuyasha had thought she was going to say it wasn't this, and frankly he didn't know what to think of her now. This woman kept him on and off guard constantly. He had let his guard down for her again after hearing her father's story, he knew she hadn't been lying. But suddenly finding out that she had spiritual powers, which meant she was a miko, made him built up his wall again.

He didn't like people with spiritual energy, except for Kaede, Miroku and Kikyou. Although he knew that only Kaede and Miroku had developed their powers while Kikyou hadn't thought it was useful for her career but that didn't mean she couldn't give him quite a shock. While untrained, she was still somewhat powerful and she had only lost control once because she was emotionally unbalanced, to put it nicely.

He thought it was weird though that he couldn't sense Kagome's spiritual energy, he could sense those of Kaede, Miroku and Kikyou just fine. That would mean she was somehow able to conceal her powers, but why would she conceal them? That was kind of suspicious.

He was deep in his thoughts but he had heard her anyway, he just didn't know what to say to her. He was starting to think she was just a genuine good person, and like any normal person they had their secrets. She'd been honest with him though, he hadn't sensed any deception coming from her and now he could sense that she was genuinely worried. But why would she be worried? Did she care what he thought of her?

He frowned and turned to her after a moment.

"Why didn't you tell me before? And why can't I sense your spiritual energy?" He asked seriously.

"I'm actually very powerful so to protect my patients and myself I wear an energy concealment charm… I didn't tell you before because it's not something I share with everyone. You have no idea what my life has been like, what I've gone through to get to where I am today. I only ever wanted to be treated like every other person and I got what I wanted by keeping these two big secrets so that I was treated fairly."

"You're not the only one who's had a difficult childhood, Kagome." Her heart skipped a beat when she heard him say her name. It wasn't only because he said it but the way he said it. She knew he understood what she'd been through. How could she forget he was a hanyou? And a famous one as well. He probably had a worse childhood than she'd had.

Inuyasha eyed her carefully, he knew she'd understood what he meant. The guilt was written all over her face.

"I'm sorry, you're right. For a minute there I forgot that you're a hanyou and you must have had a difficult childhood yourself."

He looked at her incredulously. "How do you forget I'm a hanyou? It's not something people usually forget. Actually no one has ever told me that before. You are one weird wench."

Kagome chuckled. "I don't judge people by their race, dog boy. I try to treat everyone equally and I guess I sometimes forget what race they are."

"Keh, whatever. Don't call me dog boy."

"Don't call me wench."

"I'll stop calling you wench if you stop calling me dog boy."

Kagome snorted. "I don't have to have your senses to know that was a lie. Besides, you started calling me wench first so until you stop I won't either."

Inuyasha just rolled her eyes at her. He was sort of relieved to see that Kagome's secrets didn't change the way they treated each other. He was actually starting to like their banter, it made things less boring.

The rest of the ride was spent in comfortable silence and soon they were back at the clinic. They had spent a few hours getting his blood work and MRI scan done. They had to wait a while in between the two tests and Inuyasha spent it perfecting his composition and Kagome's while Kagome just read a magazine, although he noticed she seemed bored reading it.

She suddenly reminded him to make reservations if he was going to take his sister out to eat. He decided to invite his friends as well so he called them up first to see if they wanted to join them. The guys agreed readily but the girls were not in a good mood and were reluctant so he decided to change his plans.

He told the girls to go to his house for dinner and called Shiori and the guys to inform them as well. After placing a large order at one of their favorite restaurant to have them delivered at his house it was time for his MRI scan.

When they were on their way home Inuyasha tried calling Kikyou to inform him of dinner plans but just like every day his call went straight to voicemail. He left her a message, if she didn't check her messages before getting home and she got mad it was not his problem.

He liked her but he was getting tired of her behavior, he wasn't sure if she was worth the trouble anymore.

Deciding not to think about depressing stuff anymore since he was still in a somewhat good mood, better than lately anyway, he put on some music. Music always made him feel better.

He was so into his music that the trip back home seemed shorter. They got back just before 5 in the afternoon, time sure flew by today but he didn't care. All he could think about was going to his studio and play his new song already. He wanted to let the guys hear it tonight after dinner and maybe they could work on it together as well.

They were greeted at the door by an excited Shiori, who had already been there for a while and had already unpacked. She took the guest room in between Kagome's and Inuyasha's bedrooms. Kaede had helped her settle in but had already left before the pair had arrived home.

Inuyasha closed himself off in the studio soon after, leaving Kagome and Shiori to do whatever they wanted.

The girls wanted to get to know each other better so they went to the kitchen. Kagome had a feeling that if they became friends that would most likely be their hangout spot.

While they were preparing some snacks Kagome made some for Inuyasha as well, she thought he must have been hungry but was so excited to go back to the studio that he must've somehow forgotten about his hunger. But knowing he was a guy his stomach was probably going to remind him soon enough.

About 15 minutes later the girls made their way to the studio with snacks in hand. They wanted to watch Inuyasha in his element. Shiori loved watching her brother making music, it was because of him that she fell in love with music in the first place. She was also talented but she was too shy and would rather work in the background like Sesshomaru. That's why she wanted to become a band manager. She wanted to witness the whole thing, only without being in the spotlight.

They saw Inuyasha playing his guitar and saw his lips moving but couldn't hear anything. Shiori pushed the mute button on the mixer in front of them so they could hear him.

Kagome liked the melody, she wasn't really paying attention to the words until he sang the chorus. She was so surprised she didn't know what to think. He was playing a song she wrote, she had written it a while back but hadn't had the time to arrange it, but it seemed Inuyasha took it upon himself to do it.

She liked how it sounded, but it was still missing something. Suddenly Inuyasha stopped playing and looked up in surprise. He hadn't heard them because he closed himself in the recording studio and the girls were standing in the mixing room.

"What are you guys doing here?" The older hanyou asked.

Shiori pushed a button and spoke into a microphone. "We brought you food, we know you haven't eaten yet."

He smiled gratefully and nodded before putting his guitar in its stand and wheeling himself out.

"Thanks, I just wanted to play and no hunger was gonna stop me," he said while taking his cup of ramen noodles.

The girls watched him devour the whole thing in less than 30 seconds, Shiori sporting a smile, Kagome a surprised expression.

"How the hell did you eat that so fast? You practically inhaled the whole thing."

Shiori giggled. "It's his favorite food, and he's a dog so that's why." Kagome laughed.

"Hey! You're half dog demon too, you just have manners while I don't."

The girls rolled their eyes. "By the way Inuyasha, next time you want to arrange any of my lyrics, at least ask me first," said Kagome.

"You're not mad?" He asked surprised.

"Not really, I liked it. Just promise to keep them to yourself, or at least people close to you."

"Why not? It's a good song. It would be a shame not to share this with the world."

"I'd rather not, remember what I told you about being in the spotlight?"

He sighed. He would relent this time, temporarily. He would find a way to convince her otherwise. Then suddenly he had an idea.

"Sing it with me. Right now."

The raven haired woman raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding right?"

"Of course not. And I know you can sing, I heard you last night. You're good and you know it. Don't deny it," he said firmly. He wasn't gonna take no for an answer.

He was also going to say that she was talented considering who her father was but didn't know if she wanted his family and friends to know so he kept it to himself.

Kagome sighed. She secretly wanted to sing the song badly, it was hers anyway. But she didn't want them to know that because she didn't want them to try to convince her to change her mind if it sounded good.

"Fine, whatever. But just this once," she replied.

Inuyasha smiled and wheeled himself back inside the recording room, Kagome trailing behind him. They spent about 30 minutes on the song, finding the right key, dividing the lyrics and trying to harmonize their voices.

Inuyasha wanted to record it but he knew Kagome wouldn't agree so he glanced at Shiori when Kagome wasn't looking to give her a sign. She understood immediately and started recording.

Just then she heard the doorbell and went to see who it was. She was surprised to see Demonic and Shikon Girls but was happy to see them all again. She hadn't seen them in about a month and she had missed her friends.

However she wanted to hear Inuyasha and Kagome sing so she rushed everyone to the recording studio.

They all propped themselves in the small room and were complaining until they were all shocked into silence when they heard Kagome, who had her back to them, begin to sing.

(_Kagome_ – **Inuyasha****-**_**Both**_)

_The burning desire to live and roam free__  
__It shines in the dark and it grows within me__  
__You're holding my hand but you don't understand__  
__So where I am going, you won't be in the end_

**I'm dreaming in colors**** o****f getting the chance****  
****I'm dreaming of trying the perfect romance****  
****In search of the door to open your mind****  
****In search of the cure of mankind****  
**_  
__**Help us we're drowning**__**  
**__**So closed up inside**__**  
**__  
__**Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?**__**  
**__**Why does it have to kill the ideal of who we are?**__**  
**__**Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?**__**  
**__**And when the lights die down, telling us who we are?**_

_I'm searching for answers not given for free__  
_**They're hidden inside, is there life within me?**_  
__You're holding my hand but you don't understand__  
_**So I'm taking the road all alone in the end**

_**I'm dreaming in colors, no boundaries are there**__**  
**__**I'm dreaming the dream we all seem to share**__**  
**__**In search of the door to open your mind**__**  
**__**In search of the cure of mankind**_

_**Help us we're drowning**__**  
**__**So closed up inside**__**  
**__  
__**Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?**__**  
**__**Why does it have to kill the ideal of who we are?**__**  
**__**Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?**__**  
**__**And when the lights die down, telling us who we are?**_

_**Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?**__**  
**__**Why does it have to kill the ideal of who we are?**__**  
**__**Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?**__**  
**__**And when the lights die down, telling us who we are?**_

_**Why does it rain?**_

Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other, smiling. They had fun singing together, and the song sounded great. They were lost in each other's eyes, not knowing why but not caring much to find out at the moment.

Unfortunately their moment was broken by a loud 'BANG!'


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Hoobastank's 'Never There'**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 9**

The door to the recording room burst open startling both Kagome and Inuyasha. Demonic's and Shikon's band members barged in, everyone talking at the same time. Inuyasha and Kagome were stunned speechless for a moment and didn't know who to listen to. They were all obviously excited, telling them how great they sounded and that the song could become a hit if they would release it.

Then suddenly both bands were arguing about who should get to play it. The guys thought they should play the song because Kagome wasn't part of Shikon Girls but the girls were ready to let her join their band since there was no doubt Kagome was talented.

Shiori stood helplessly in the middle trying to settle them down but her efforts were pointless. Inuyasha, tired of all the noise, whistled to get everyone's attention. The high pitch hurt the demons' ears (even his own but he didn't show it) and they quieted down trying to get their hearing back. The humans didn't really care much for the whistle and kept arguing but a short moment later they also quieted down, when Inuyasha yelled for them to shut up.

"First of all, no one is gonna play this song unless Kagome says it's okay. It's her song so –"

"You wrote the song, Kagome?" asked Sango surprised.

"It's a great song, why didn't you tell us you were this talented?" Rin inquired.

"Uh… well, it didn't come up," Kagome answered nervously.

"Well, yeah but you don't have to be so nervous about it," said Ayame.

"Yeah, you're very talented. Makes me wonder what else you've been keeping a secret," Kouga said jokingly.

She chuckled nervously and looked at Inuyasha, silently reminding him not to reveal anything she told him today and to help her out with his friends.

Inuyasha's heart skipped a beat at the look she gave him. She trusted him, not many people had trusted him so fast and he asked himself why she would. He hadn't given her any reason for her to trust him yet she currently entrusted him with her two biggest secrets.

He was stunned, he couldn't believe she could still surprise him and yet she was doing it again. The more she surprised him, the more he thought she was simply a nice person. Well, maybe she wasn't so simple, she was a miko blessed with the voice of an angel who just wanted to be normal, but she still seemed to be a good person. He supposed he should help her out, if she didn't want to tell his friends yet then he wasn't going to argue, it was her business anyway.

"Whatever guys, who cares about the wench," he said after giving her a slight nod and a tiny smile. "Let's just get out of here, dinner should be arriving soon," he said, wheeling himself out the studio.

All four girls looked at each other with a knowing look. They hadn't missed the looks the physical therapist and the hanyou shared. There was something only they knew and were not willing to tell.

The girls then looked at the guys to see if they had seen what they had, but it seemed only Miroku had noticed. Both Shippou and Kouga trailed after Inuyasha talking about what he'd ordered. Kagome sighed and followed them, mumbling about teaching them to eat healthier.

When Ayame was sure they were out of earshot she voiced what everyone else was thinking.

"You guys all saw that, right?" They all nodded.

"Kagome's hiding something which is understandable but the fact that Inuyasha knows about it makes me curious as to what it is, especially since she's reluctant to tell us," said Miroku.

"Well, then I guess we'll have to find out somehow. Miroku, you try to get Inuyasha to tell you, we'll deal with Kagome," said Sango.

"I love it when you take charge, my dear Sango. I shall do whatever it takes to find out whatever they're hiding, although I would like a reward for it," said Miroku, waggling his eyebrows, his hand inching dangerously close to Sango's bottom.

Sango bristled at his suggestion and slapped his hand away before he could make contact. She had developed some sort of radar for his wandering hands and more often than not she could avoid being groped by the bassist.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Miroku. Anyways let's go before they notice we're lagging behind."

They quickly made their way to the dining room where they found Kouga and Shippou helping Kagome set the table and Inuyasha watching the guys in amusement. Kagome must have persuaded them one way or another.

Just as they finished setting the table the doorbell rang.

"Kouga, Shippou, could you guys get the door? It's probably the delivery guy," Kagome asked sweetly.

"Uh, y-yeah sure Kagome," Shippou stuttered, a faint pink dusting his cheeks.

"Anything for you, Kagome," Kouga replied cockily.

Inuyasha chuckled quietly and gave them money to pay for the food. He was amused by how both demons were affected by Kagome. They seemed to be wrapped around her little finger. Shippou was behaving like a lovesick teenager and Kouga was just trying too hard to get her attention.

He found them very entertaining, even though he knew it was wrong, but that just made it even funnier. He hadn't known Kagome that long but from what he knew so far he thought she was way out of their league. She was beautiful, talented and just a nice and caring person. She deserved someone a lot better than any of the men currently in that household.

He couldn't remember when was the last time he had tried so hard to figure someone out, usually if he didn't he wouldn't care, they weren't all that important to him anyway. But with Kagome things were different, he wanted to figure her out. Now that he thought about it he wanted to really get to know her. This thought made him chuckle silently, this morning he still wanted to get rid of her but had decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, at least until he figured her out. Now, after knowing a little bit more about her, he was starting to think it might not be such a bad thing to have her as his caregiver. She understood him better than most people did, even after knowing her for a day and she's been nothing but honest so far, which he liked a lot about her.

The guys came back shortly and they had a nice dinner. That was until Kagome unknowingly broached a subject the Shikon Girls have been trying to avoid talking about lately, especially after this morning's meeting.

"So, I can see that you girls are very close, but I haven't seen Kagura with you guys yet. Is she busy or something?"

The mood immediately turned sour and everyone was quiet until Sango decided to break the silence.

"Well, since you've brought it up we have something to announce," she said, her voice barely containing her anger. "Just as we've suspected for a while, Kagura has decided to pursue a solo career."

This news didn't really come as a shock to anyone except Kagome and Shiori. The latter had been busy the last couple of months and hadn't kept much in touch with the girls so she didn't know what had happened lately and Kagome had only just met them. Besides, the whole thing was kept well out of public knowledge.

"That's not all," Ayame continued just as bitterly. "Spider Records are not renewing our contract. They say we were successful thanks to Kagura and now that she's a solo artist they don't need us anymore."

"Those bastards!" Kouga exclaimed. "How can they do this to you? I mean, we expected Kagura to do some shit like that but what are you guys gonna do now that Spider dropped you?"

Sango sighed dejectedly. "We don't know yet. But that's not even the worst part. They have the rights to all of Shikon's songs. Every fucking song we've released and those that didn't make the album cuts, everything belongs to Spider Records," she said angrily.

"Do you have a copy of the contract? I could take a look at it, maybe your lawyers missed something. If there's a loophole I can definitely find it," Shiori offered.

"Sure, I guess but our lawyers were pretty sure there wasn't any. So we're basically fucked," said Rin. Everyone was surprised, Rin didn't swear unless she was angry or upset so she was taking this very hard. Hell, it took a lot to get Rin angry or upset in the first place.

"I'll talk to Dad and Sesshomaru, see what they can do for you," Inuyasha offered.

"Thanks, but we've made it on our own before and we'll do it again. We don't want your help because we're friends but because we've earned it," said Ayame.

"Guys, look at the bright side," Miroku said happily. "At least now you don't have to take Kagura and Spider Record's shit anymore. We know you've been trying to get rid of them for a while and although the timing sucks we all knew you would've parted ways one day. Besides, if you get a deal with Takahashi Records I'm almost certain you can play your own music. Ever since you got famous Kagura has made everything about her, she made the song choices, your music style, your performances, everything. Now _you_ get to call the shots and not anyone else."

"I guess that's a good point, I just hope you're right," said Sango. She looked at Miroku gratefully, she had been so angry since the meeting this morning that she hadn't thought that they could start over and play music that actually meant something to them. They could finally be themselves and stop pretending to be musicians with superficial ideals.

"I agree with Miroku," said Kagome. "You are too good to be playing the crap you've been playing anyway, no offense."

"None taken," answered Rin. "We hated most of our songs too, we just couldn't get out of our contract. They would blackmail us when we refused to do anything they wanted us to do, it was basically hell the last few years. I'm glad we're through with them but every song we've made that meant something to us belongs to them now too. On top of that I'm positive they will find a way to make the public believe we're to blame so it could be harder to get another record label to sign us."

"You better not be thinking of giving up!" Kagome exclaimed. "You guys were blessed with your talent so don't let it go to waste. You now have the chance to start over, to show the public what you're really about. Show them through your music who the real you are. That's the beauty of music, you can convey so much through songs, use it to your advantage and change the public's minds."

"We're definitely not giving up, but I'm sure if you joined our band we could make a great comeback," said Ayame.

Kagome chuckled, "Well, as fun as it would be to perform with you guys, I have to say no. I'm not interested in becoming a rock star like you guys."

"But why?" Rin whined. "You're a great singer and after hearing one of your songs I think you're probably a great songwriter too. And like you just said, you shouldn't let your talent go to waste."

"I know I'm somewhat talented but I can assure you it's not going to waste, Rin. I just don't like being in the spotlight."

"Somewhat talented?" Sango snorted. "How much time did you and Inuyasha spend working on that song anyway?"

"Uhm, I don't know. I wrote it a while back and he did the rest today. We just spent a little less than an hour working out the details. Why?"

"Less than an hour? And you don't think you're talented? You wrote a great song and sang it perfectly. We know Inuyasha rarely makes mistakes when he plays and you both sounded so perfect together. How can you say you're _somewhat_ talented? You're either in denial or you're purposely playing dumb," the female bassist replied.

Kagome smiled sadly. "I'm not in denial, I have my reasons for not wanting to be in the spotlight, that's all."

"Okay all this is making me depressed," said Inuyasha. Everyone looked at him weirdly, he just rolled his eyes. "What? I've actually had a good day today for once and you're ruining it with all this crap. So let's just forget this whole thing, we can always talk about it tomorrow."

With that he wheeled himself out of the dining room and went back to recording studio.

"Why don't you guys go with him, I'm sure he wants to let you hear his new song," said Kagome, dismissing the Demonic band mates. They nodded and made their way to the studio as well.

The girls cleared the table, throwing all the disposable containers away. There were no leftovers, but that was to be expected whit three youkai and two hanyou.

Afterwards they decided to sing some karaoke. The girls wanted to hear Kagome sing some more and maybe try to convince her to join their band while Kagome wanted to see if they could sing and maybe convince them that they didn't need her in their band. Shiori for her part was secretly plotting and if she could get her way then everyone would get what they wanted.

* * *

They were all busy, the guys in the studio and the girls in the game room, when Kikyou got home. It was about 9.30 at night and she was tired and cranky from work and after work exercises. She really didn't want to deal with Inuyasha's friends but knew that she'd have to suck it up if she wanted her plans to work.

She could hear the girls in the game room so she decided that maybe she'd have a little chat with the new physical therapist. When she got there Sango had just finished singing.

"Good evening girls," she greeted.

"Oh, hello Kikyou. Did you just get home?" Shiori asked.

"Yes, I did. I didn't know you were back in town. How long are you here for this time?" she asked, trying to make idle conversation.

"I just moved back to LA actually, I arrived just last night. Do you need Inuyasha? He's in the studio with the guys right now."

"Actually, I was wondering if I could have a word with you, Miss Higurashi, if that's alright," said Kikyou, turning her attention to the physical therapist.

"Yes, of course. I'll be right back guys." Kagome had a weird feeling about this so she shot Shiori a look. She understood that the physical therapist didn't really want to be alone with the supermodel so she gave her an imperceptible nod to tell her it was okay, that she had her back.

Kikyou led her to the study. Once she closed the door she looked at Kagome stoically before starting to speak.

"I have a proposition for you. I hope that you would at least consider it before you make a decision," she said softly yet emotionlessly.

"Alright, go ahead," she said, trying to sense what Kikyou was up to and what she sensed was not good.

"First of all you should know you will be paid very well for this… assignment, so take it into account before you decide." After a dramatic pause the supermodel continued. "What I want you to do is to disrupt Inuyasha's recovery."

Kagome's heart skipped a beat, she did not expect this at all. This made her think about what they talked about this morning with Dr. Suikotsu and this afternoon in the car. She couldn't understand why she would do this to someone she was supposed to love? It didn't even take a second to know what to do.

Kikyou gauged the physical therapist's reaction carefully, she seemed shocked. That was okay, she knew how to convince her, blackmail had never failed her.

"What if I say no?" asked Kagome defiantly.

"Then I'll tell Inuyasha some interesting facts I found out about you, like say that you have spiritual powers. Did you know that he detests people with spiritual powers? Well, except me of course."

Kagome had thought as much, she had enough money and it's not like she had made sure her secrets remained buried. She just didn't act suspiciously so no one ever suspected her to have the secrets she did. It was a good thing that she had talked with Inuyasha that afternoon so her blackmail would certainly not work on her but she had a plan.

She was almost certain that if she declined the offer and told Inuyasha he wouldn't immediately believe her. She remembered she had sensed Shiori follow them and was currently nearby, far enough to not seem suspicious but close enough to hear them. If she played things right she could show Inuyasha what type of girlfriend he had.

"How did you find out?" she asked the supermodel.

"I have my ways. So what is your decision?"

She knew Kikyou had spiritual powers and was sure that she could sense someone if they were close enough, even with her untrained powers. Kagome had always been able to sense people nearby and could tell the difference between people's energy when she discovered her own powers. So she did what she thought she had to do, even if she didn't want to, at least not yet.

She lowered and turned her head sideways, folded her arms in front of her chest and pretended to think. What she was really doing was creating a shield around Shiori to conceal her presence and slowly pushing her closer to the study.

This scared the hell out of Shiori, she hadn't expected a barrier to appear around her, much less one that was able to move. She touched the barrier tentatively, bracing herself for the shock that she was sure would hit her but it never came. That was the first time she wasn't hurt by a barrier. She was so into her thoughts about the barrier that she almost forgot to keep listening to the conversation in the study.

"Can you answer a few questions before I give you my answer?"

"You're not really in a position to be asking questions around here but I'll humor you anyway."

"Did you pay off those other physical therapists as well or blackmailed them into sabotaging Inuyasha's recovery?"

Kikyou chuckled. "I guess you have it somewhat figured out hmm? You know, you should really learn not to be so nosey, it can get you in trouble one day. But to answer your question, I did pay them, but I didn't have to blackmail them, they agreed immediately."

"What do you want to gain from all this?"

"That is only for me to know."

Kagome was silent for a moment considering what to do next while appearing to be contemplating to accept or decline the offer. She decided it was going to be hard to fool Kikyou she was sabotaging Inuyasha's recovery if she planned on using her spiritual energy in his therapy. So the best thing to do right now was to decline but she didn't know what else to expect from the supermodel, she didn't trust her.

"I decline your offer," she said defiantly, straightening her posture and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You don't scare me and I've lived a pretty normal life aside from a couple of occurrences to know that you don't have anything to blackmail me with. Besides, Inuyasha probably knows more than you do about me."

Kikyou shot her a cold glare. "Fine, I can accept your answer. Just know that if you tell anyone about this you'll regret it. And that is no empty threat, I can assure you that."

They stared at each other for a moment before Kikyou made her way out the study.

Shiori had heard everything and was wondering why it was so silent when the door burst open. She jumped and tried to hide somewhere but Kikyou just walked away as if she hadn't even seen her. This confused her so she went in the study to see if Kagome could see her.

She did and the barrier was suddenly dropped. The physical therapist sighed before she spoke.

"Can you close the door?" When the door was closed she continued. "Did you hear everything?"

"Yes. I can't believe she would do such a thing. I want to tell Inuyasha but I don't want you to get hurt. I've known Kikyou long enough to know that she's not to be messed with and I'm worried about you."

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. I assume you heard when she said I have spiritual powers, I know she has them as well but I'm a lot stronger than her and she's untrained so she can't hurt me."

"So you're really a miko?" Kagome nodded. "Why didn't you tell us? Does Inuyasha know?"

"I don't go around telling everyone I'm a miko. I was going to tell you guys though since I had been thinking about using my spiritual energy in Inuyasha's therapy. I already told him today and I guess he's okay with it, I'm still in one piece, aren't I?" she said smiling.

The hanyou chuckled. "I'm glad he's okay with it, I really like you and I can see that you care for him so I know he's in good hands."

"I care about all my patients, I don't treat any one of them differently. And he _is_ in good hands," Kagome told her confidently.

They smiled at each other before Shiori remembered the barrier.

"So did you put me in that barrier?" Kagome nodded. "What kind of barrier was it? When I touched it it didn't hurt and it could actually move, which I didn't know was possible."

"While I was training in Japan, I discovered that you could combine spells, one of those I mastered was this barrier. My grandfather said that very few people have ever done it since they either didn't have enough spiritual energy to cast a successful combined spell or they didn't think it was necessary. This particular barrier is not meant to hurt anyone, whether you're inside or outside the barrier. It conceals and protects those inside while being almost imperceptible, you'd have to be inside or have a huge amount of spiritual energy to sense this barrier."

"Woah, I have never even heard of that. Was it hard?"

"Well, I had a lot of trouble at first but practice makes perfect."

"So what are we going to do now about Kikyou?"

"I want to let the others know, to keep an eye on her and to protect Inuyasha. I don't want them to be alone in a room, she's deceptive and Inuyasha doesn't trust me yet so if she feeds him any lies he might believe her or she might hurt him herself. I don't know her well enough so I don't know what to expect from her."

"Okay, we'll let the others know. And don't worry, we have your back too. We all like you, and we'd hate it if you were hurt in any way."

This made Kagome smile, she was glad to have met these people. They hadn't known each other that long and they already accepted her. Although Shiori and Inuyasha didn't seem to mind the fact that she possessed spiritual energy she was still a little worried about what the others might think.

"Thanks, it means a lot to me."

They hurriedly made their way back to the game room. The girls were playing videogames, waiting for the two to return. When they saw them they put the game on pause and began questioning them immediately.

"What took you so long, Kagome? What did Kikyou want?" asked a worried Rin.

"Before I get to that there's something I have to tell you. I hope you understand why I didn't tell you before but something came up and I would rather you hear it from me rather than anyone else." She paused, bracing herself for their reactions. "I have spiritual powers."

"So you put up the barrier around the room just now?" asked Ayame. She had sensed the barrier being put up but she didn't know who did it. The only people in the house with spiritual energy were Miroku and Kikyou but he was in another room and she didn't know how to use her powers.

"Yes, it's to keep others from listening in on us," Kagome replied.

"Why can't I sense your spiritual energy? You seem like any normal person," asked Ayame once again.

"I've concealed them, no one can sense it unless I take off the charm or if their spiritual energy is more or just as powerful as mine."

"So just how powerful are you?" asked Sango, who was wearing a small frown.

"Well, according to many spiritualists in Japan I'm one of the most powerful they've ever met," she said sheepishly.

"So are you here to help or hurt Inuyasha?"

"I would never hurt anyone intentionally, Sango. Inuyasha is my patient so I will do everything in my power to help him. Besides, I chose to be trained mostly in healing and I know very few attack spells so I can't really hurt him even if I wanted to," Kagome answered firmly.

Sango still seemed doubtful so Ayame interfered.

"She's telling the truth Sango, we all care about Inuyasha and we know you've been very protective of him ever since his accident but I believe her. I don't think she would hurt him, she seems to genuinely want to help him," said Ayame.

"Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly.

"I believe her too, besides you can't argue with our senses," said Shiori.

Sango cracked a tiny smile. "Alright then, I trust you guys. But I will still keep an eye on you, Kagome."

"I understand. Inuyasha is lucky to have friends like you." Kagome replied with a small smile.

"Anyway, we have something more important to tell you guys. It's about Kikyou," said Shiori seriously.

"What is it about?" asked Rin.

"Kikyou has been sabotaging Inuyasha's rehabilitation," she stated angrily. "We don't really know why, we just know that she paid off the other physical therapists and had offered Kagome the same deal. She also tried to dig up some secrets to blackmail her but that plan fell through since Kagome seems to have a dull life," she said this with a smirk. Kagome just rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, I didn't accept her offer, of course, so Kikyou threatened to hurt me if I told anyone," Kagome reassured. "But I'm more concerned about Inuyasha. He's vulnerable right now so she can still find ways to hurt him herself or she might find someone else to hurt him. So we thought it would be better to let you guys know. We have to look out for him without him knowing it."

"Why won't you tell Inuyasha?" asked Rin.

"We don't know what Kikyou is capable of, I mean we wouldn't have known Kikyou was sabotaging his recovery if she hadn't approached Kagome in the first place. Besides, for some reason he likes her and she has him wrapped around her little finger so he might not believe us," Shiori replied.

"Damn it, that's true," Ayame growled. "So how do we do this? He might seem ignorant about most things, especially when it comes to Kikyou, but I'm sure he'd catch on eventually that we're keeping an eye on him."

"Just try to act normal around him, he might not seem very perceptive at first glance but I can assure you he is. I can sense it around him, although that might be because he just has his guard up when I'm around," Kagome told them. "In any case, you should just support him like you've been doing all along and come up with plausible excuses to be around him as much as possible."

"I guess we can do that, but we need to make up a good reason to come by here more often," said Sango.

"Well, Shiori just moved back and she's going to be living here for a while so you can say you want to catch up. You can think of something else afterwards," Kagome replied.

"We also have to make sure whatever we tell him is somewhat true, us demons can sense deceit very well," said Shiori.

"If you can sense it how come Inuyasha hasn't sensed Kikyou's deceit yet?" asked Rin.

"That's 'cause she covers her scent with strong perfume, and other strong scented products. It makes it harder to tell, I can't even stand her perfumes so I never really try to smell her. Besides that I think she can manipulate her heartbeat and breathing 'cause her heartbeat is always consistent, she could be lying to you while appearing calm on the outside as well as on the inside," answered Shiori.

"Okay, so now that we have some kind of plan we have to tell the guys. Shiori and Kagome are going to be here at night and I'm sure they can keep an eye on Kikyou if she's here at night anyway. I also think we should have Kikyou investigated, we need evidence if we want to convince Inuyasha," said Sango.

"Well then I guess we can go see what the guys are up to right now," Ayame said and made her way to the door. Kagome lowered her barrier so everyone could get out.

When they reached the studio the guys were taking a little break so the girls went inside to the recording room.

"So how's it going guys? How's everything coming along?" asked Ayame.

"It's going, you wanna hear it?" Kouga asked, looking mostly at Kagome.

The answer was a unanimous yes and the girls made their way to the mixing room. Right after Shiori started recording the guys began playing.

_I'm filling up inside like I need to open wide and pour my heart out to you_  
_But I'll just get denied and I all I wanted was someone to hear what I'm going through_

_Every time that I need you around you're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_Because in my life is where I need you now, but you're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_(never there)_

_You were supposed to see all the signs I left to read in front of your face_  
_You were supposed to be the closest thing to being me, but you're the furthest away_  
_That's because_

_Everytime that I need you around you're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_Because in my life is where I need you now, but you're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_You're never there_

_And I doubt that I will ever find out if there's a way to get out of feeling all alone_  
_'Cause lately I've been thinking maybe that no one's going to save me_  
_I'll do it on my own_  
_On my own_  
_On my own_

_Every time that I need you around you're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_Because in my life is where I need you now, but you're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_(never there)_  
_You're never there_  
_You're never there_

Kagome could sense all the frustration Inuyasha put into the song, hell, she was sure everyone felt it. But she thought it was good though, almost therapeutic, since he seemed a little calmer than before. At least he had a way to release his emotions, she'd have to let him spend more time playing, at least until he decides to go to therapy.

She knew, after listening to this song, that things were looking good for them. Everyone could tell what this song was about. Not everything was going great in his relationship with Kikyou and he was starting to see what the supermodel was really like. This gave the girls some hope that he might believe them when they revealed Kikyou's deceit.

The girls went back to the recording room, Kagome trailing slowly behind them.

"Wow, I already love the song," Rin said excitedly.

"Yeah, talk about blowing off some steam," said Sango with a smirk.

"So will this be on your next album?" asked Ayame.

"We don't know yet. We've all been writing lyrics so we'll have to see what we've got but this one's got a big chance on making the cut," Miroku replied.

They spent a few more minutes talking, Kagome just leaned against the door that almost gave her a heart attack earlier watching their interaction. They were a tight-knit group, Inuyasha was very lucky to have them as friends. They cared about him for who he was as a person, not because he was famous or rich and they didn't care that he was a hanyou.

She wished she'd met them sooner, or at least people like them. She didn't really have friends and she missed being able to confide in others that weren't family.

Watching them interact, she felt like an outsider, which was understandable since they'd only just met. She sighed and went in the hallway, she had to think of a way to know for sure that Inuyasha would be safe when he was alone with Kikyou. They could hang around him all day but at night he would go to bed with her and there was no one left to protect him. Suddenly she had an idea and she went back inside the studio.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna head to bed now. Are you coming back tomorrow?"

"You're going to bed already? It's still early," said Kouga.

"I know but it's been a long day for me and I still want to go through Inuyasha's medical records to see if I've missed something," Kagome told him.

"Okay, have a good night then Kagome," said Rin. "And don't worry, we'll be here tomorrow."

"Great. Inuyasha remember we have a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon but that doesn't mean you get to wake up at noon. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Everyone bid her a good night and she went to her room. She could sense Kikyou was in Inuyasha's bedroom and was wondering what she was doing but she couldn't sense anything wrong yet so she entered her bedroom.

After Kagome went upstairs they had moved to the living room where both bands spent another hour chatting before leaving for the night. They would've stayed longer if it weren't for Kikyou demanding time (and attention) from Inuyasha.

When they left the girls had informed the guys what was going on before heading to their respective homes. They had all agreed to come back in the morning, they had nothing better to do anyway.

Shiori went to her new room after making sure the house was secured. Inuyasha and Kikyou had already gone to their room. The first thing she did when she entered her room was call her big brother and let him know what was happening. If there was someone who knew how to handle a situation like this it was Sesshomaru.

* * *

Everyone had left, Kagome and Shiori were in their rooms and he and Kikyou had already changed into their sleepwear and were lying on their bed. Neither had said a word since everyone left, each one in their own thoughts. Kikyou with her evil plot and Inuyasha for some inexplicable reason couldn't stop thinking about his new physical therapist.

Now that he thought about it they seemed to have had a similar life when they were younger but eventually took very different paths. He had chosen fame to show everybody who had looked down on him that he could become what everyone told him he couldn't be while Kagome had chosen to lead a normal life after the tragedy that came from her father's fame.

He tried to get his mind off Kagome, he would never admit it out loud but he was attracted to her. She was obviously beautiful so most men would be physically attracted to her but he also liked her personality. She had opened up to him willingly, he was almost sure she would've opened up to him even if he hadn't told her he was having her investigated. And the best part was her honesty, he hadn't detected any dishonesty at all.

Because of that he found her even more attractive. He was starting to like her, he wouldn't deny that but he feared how much he would start liking her. He didn't want to like her too much, he already had Kikyou. He couldn't betray her like that so the only thing he could do was to make sure he didn't start developing feelings for Kagome.

"I tried calling you today but you didn't answer," he said, needing the distraction before his thoughts wandered even more.

"I was busy working Inuyasha, I'm sorry I couldn't get to the phone."

"That's alright, I just wanted to let you know that Shiori's going to live with us for a while."

"I thought we discussed this last night, Inuyasha. We agreed to make decisions together."

"And I would have, had you answered your phone instead of working non-stop."

"Well, then I guess you'll be happy to know that I'm taking a few days off. I've been feeling fatigued lately and I could use some rest."

"Well, that's what you get for working so much but I'm glad you're taking time off to take care of yourself."

"Actually, there's another reason for my fatigue. In fact, I've been having other unusual symptoms as well, like nausea, headaches and the most importantly…I haven't had my period in a while."

She paused to let the information sink in. Inuyasha's heart started racing. Did that mean what he thought it meant?

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he asked tentatively.

"Yes, I'm pregnant."

* * *

R&R please!


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Hi guys, I'm sorry it's been so long. Writer's block is a bitch and I just haven't have enough inspiration until these last few days but I finally finished this chapter. I've already begun with the next one but I can't promise I'll finish it soon._

_But anyways, I hope you like it. R&R please!_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 10**

"Yes, I'm pregnant," she said softly.

Inuyasha turned to her abrubtly, as much as he could anyway, and hugged her tightly.

"Oh my God, you're pregnant? How far along are you? When did you find out? Oh my God, we're having a pup!"

"I haven't gone to my OB/GYN yet so I don't know how far along I am. But I have an appointment tomorrow."

He felt like the luckiest guy on the planet, just today he was thinking that she might not want to have a family with him and now he will.

"Thank you, Kikyou. You have no idea how happy this makes me," he told her after a minute of just holding her.

Kikyou didn't say anything, she just offered a tiny smile. Inuyasha returned it and put his hand on her still flat stomach. He took a big whiff so he could smell his unborn pup but was confused when he couldn't smell anything but the perfume overpowering Kikyou's own scent.

"Why can't I smell it? This doesn't make any sense. You are pregnant aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. I went to a miko as soon as I found out to conceal the pregnancy. No one can either smell or sense the fetus growing inside of me."

"It's called a pup, Kikyou, not a fetus! And why would you want to conceal it? Don't you want people to know?"

"Of course I do, just not yet. We are celebrities and there are a lot of demons and some spiritualists in LA who can sense my pregnancy and I don't want the public to know yet."

"Oh…okay. I guess that makes sense but why are you wearing it now? We're at home so you can just take it off."

Kikyou took his hand and put it on her belly, "Can you feel that?"

"I can't feel anything, Kikyou. Your stomach is still flat so I can't really feel the pup."

"No, not that." She moved his finger tips on her skin until he felt some kind of light engraving.

"What's that? Is that what I'm supposed to be looking for?"

"Yes, the miko used some kind of invisible ink and tattooed the concealing spell onto my skin."

"What? Is that good for the pup? And how are you going to get rid of it if you can't even see it? It's even tattooed on your skin!"

"She said it was easily removable so whenever I decide to announce my pregnancy I can just ask her to remove it. And she assured me that it was perfectly fine to have the concealing spell tattooed on my skin. You have nothing to be worried about."

"Look, Kikyou, this is my pup too. I don't really know what to do but I just don't want anything to happen to him. So I _will_ worry, I can guarantee you that. And I will do my best to keep you both safe."

"Thank you, Inuyasha." She smiled.

"So when is your appointment tomorrow? I wanna to go with you."

"It's in the afternoon, but don't you have your appointment then too?"

"Shit, I forgot. Can't you reschedule?"

"I can't, my doctor is very busy. I only got this appointment because someone cancelled theirs, otherwise I'd have to wait until next Friday."

"Oh…okay then. I guess I can skip this one," he said a little disappointed, "but I wanna go to all the others."

Inuyasha gave her a small smile and turned his attention back to her stomach where his hand still lay while Kikyou watched him attentively, both deep in their thoughts but thinking about totally different things.

"Inuyasha, this might be kind of sudden but I think we should get married," said Kikyou after a moment, bringing the hanyou out of his thoughts.

"What? Married?" To say he was surprised was an understatement.

"Yes. I think it would be in our best interest to get married, the sooner the better. I don't want to embarrass my family, especially my father, by having a child out of wedlock."

"But your father has never liked me. I think he's already embarrassed that you're with a hanyou, I don't think us marrying before the pup is born is going to change his opinion of me."

It was one thing to have a pup with Kikyou, but marriage? At least she hadn't asked him to be mated as well. He'd been having doubts about their relationship lately, getting married now was probably not a good idea, at least not until they dealt with their issues first.

"Inuyasha, if I'd ever cared about what my father thought about you we wouldn't be together now. Besides, I really do want to get married. I love you, Inuyasha."

She had to convince him somehow, she would not take no for an answer. She'd worked too hard to get so far, now that her plan was coming together she would not let anything get in the way. But he had to accept her proposal first.

Kikyou had never told him she loved him, but now that she did he didn't know how to reply. If she'd told him that she loved him a month ago he might have told her he loved her as well but now things were different. Ever since she'd started behaving strangely he'd been wondering what he really felt about her. Besides that, he caught her lying to him last night and let's not forget Kagome.

He couldn't deny the connection they had, he'd never had that with Kikyou or any other woman and he probably never will. But marrying Kikyou would be the honorable thing to do, he just didn't want to hurt her. Whatever he felt for the supermodel, he was now pretty sure it wasn't love. And the thought of a loveless marriage didn't sit well with him.

"I need to think about it, Kikyou," he said after a long moment.

"You don't love me?"

If he didn't accept the proposal when she said she loved him then she'd have to try a different tactic. Guilt had work.

"I didn't say that, Kikyou. I just think that we need to take things slow. We've been together for six months now and things are going a little fast don't you think? I just don't want us to regret anything later on," he told her.

"It's a little late for that, don't you think? And I know things are going fast, but I'm sure we can adjust and go to a more regular pace once we're married and have the baby. And besides, I really want to marry you, not just because of the baby, this just rushes things a little bit."

Inuyasha sighed, it seemed Kikyou really wanted this, but he'd probably marry her even knowing she wasn't his mate. He'd do anything for his pup, he never thought he would ever have a son or daughter to call his own and he didn't want him/her to have the life he had. And if he were married to Kikyou he could make sure nothing happened to his pup, he would do anything for him/her, even sacrificing his own happiness.

"All right, Kikyou. Let's get married," he said, trying not to sound dejectedly.

"Thank you, Inuyasha. Now, I think we should have an engagement party next week?"

"Next week? Isn't that too little time to put a party together?" he replied.

"Well, yes. But the sooner we have the engagement party the sooner we can get married. I don't know when I'll start to show but I want to marry while I can still fit in a size 0 wedding dress."

"How soon do you want to get married then?"

"I don't know yet, but I've been planning my wedding since I was a child and have almost everything planned out. I can get everything ready in record time so all you have to do is make sure to be there on our wedding day and say 'I do'."

Inuyasha was seriously wishing their pup was a boy, if they had a girl there was a big chance she would take after her mother and he didn't know what to do with two Kikyou's, he could barely handle one.

"Okay, I guess. I know you well enough to know there's nothing I could say to change your plans anyway."

"I'm glad you know. So I was thinking next Sunday would be perfect for the engagement party…"

Inuyasha tuned her out but nodded every once in a while pretending to listen to her. Kikyou seemed really excited since she talked more than she usually did but it was in the same monotone voice of hers that would always make him fall asleep. Tonight was no different, he was out like a light in less than ten minutes.

* * *

Kagome woke up the next day around nine in the morning. She had spent the night studying Inuyasha's medical records, committing it to memory so that when they got the results tomorrow she could help Dr. Suikotsu figure out what the other physical therapists had done to sabotage his recovery and most importantly figure out a way to heal him.

She had also done research on hanyou, inu-hanyou to be more specific, on the internet and in the couple ancient books that she had brought with her from Japan to learn anything she could about them. What she learned worried her so she decided to contact Kaede the next day to learn everything she could about Inuyasha's heritage.

By the time she was done it was really late so she decided to sleep in instead of waking up early. She had a feeling she was going to need all the sleep she could get.

After getting ready for the day she went downstairs to make her phone call and then some breakfast.

Shiori came down shortly after she began preparing breakfast, already dressed for the day. She decided to help the physical therapist while they talked.

"Good morning, Kagome. How was your night?" she asked.

"Good morning. It was alright, I did a lot of research last night about inu-hanyou. I discovered something that has me a little concerned though. It's about your and Inuyasha's heritage."

"What did you find?"

"A lot but I think there's more to it than I could find with my limited resources… What has me concerned is the fact that when a hanyou is in an extremely critical condition, almost to the point of dying, sometimes their survival instincts kick in and this causes the balance of the demon and human blood to tilt. Their demon blood takes over and they become bloodthirsty monsters. Everything and anyone that crosses their path is considered a threat so they use every ounce of strength they have left to eliminate them in order to survive. Most hanyou die soon after from their injuries or they are killed by whoever is trying to kill them if their enemy is stronger….

"I have a feeling that we must prepare for such a situation just in case. We don't know what Kikyou is planning to do now that I won't help her with her evil plans and we can't rule out that she won't try to kill him. So the sooner I figure out what to do, the better. I called Kaede a few minutes ago to ask for her help so I'm gonna go to her just as soon as I'm finished with breakfast. Do you mind staying alone or do you need me to stay just in case the bitch does something? Coffee?"

"Yes, please." Kagome took out two coffee cups and poured them both some before handing one to Shiori. "And I don't mind staying alone, the gang will be here soon enough so don't worry. Besides, I'm not a weakling."

Kagome gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry if I gave you the impression I thought you were weak."

"Eh, whatever," she shrugged. "I get that a lot but I don't mind. My family has always been overprotective of me and they've tried to shield me as much as they could but that didn't mean I didn't have any means to find out anyway. They still think I'm oblivious to things that went around when I was growing up and I'd like to keep it that way so please keep this between us." Kagome nodded understandingly. "People usually think I'm weak and defenseless until they mess with me. Then they all wish they didn't," she chuckled.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I can sense you're very powerful and you're also very much in control of your powers, just like Inuyasha. And you're both very smart, I just think he likes to pretend he isn't," she laughed.

"Yeah, well, no one's ever really been able to understand half the things he says or does. By the way I called Sesshomaru last night and he says he has everything under control. He knows a really good private investigator so he'll find everything we need to know."

"If he's that good then I'm almost positive he's the one checking me out as well. I won't say it doesn't bother me at all but I understand your family's need for taking such measures. I've got very little to hide, I just hope that your family respects my privacy enough to keep it to themselves."

"Don't worry, I only want to know what you want me to know and I'd rather hear it from you than read in some file. Although I'm sure my mother and Sesshomaru already know. They wouldn't hire anyone they couldn't trust."

"They know? Then why would Inuyasha ask to have me investigated if I already have been?"

"I don't think he knows you were, but Sesshomaru will just show him your file. But if you don't want him to find out about your life like that then he will surely understand if you ask him not to read it. I can see already that he doesn't hate you, that's saying a lot coming from him, he hates almost everybody."

"All right, I'll ask him then. I'd rather tell him myself if he wants to know more about me. I just need to earn his trust but I can see it doesn't come easily with him. Having me investigated was just a faster way to get to know me. And the sooner he trusts me, the better results we can get 'cause I'll need him to trust me for what I intend to do with his rehab."

"For what it's worth, even though we only just met I can tell you're trustworthy. He's just been through a lot of crap, for me and himself, that's why he won't trust people easily."

"I can't imagine. I just wonder how Kikyou managed to make him trust her since we all know she's a backstabbing bitch. She doesn't deserve his trust, she doesn't deserve _him_…. And I'm starting to get anxious to get the results."

"Do you think they'll be good?"

The raven haired woman sighed. "I don't know but probably not, since we now know his recovery was sabotaged. But whatever it is I'm sure I can fix it and he's a hanyou so his own healing abilities should kick in once I start healing him as well."

"I like your confidence, but I'm still really worried about him. Is there a chance that things can get worse?"

"There's always a chance, Shiori, I'm not gonna lie." Kagome got up and got a chair out of the way and went to get a new plate, mug and cutlery. "But we know what we're doing, Inuyasha was just stupid to listen to his girlfriend instead of his doctor. Had he had one of our caregivers he would be walking already."

"Am I always the subject of conversation when you two talk?" asked Inuyasha who was just entering the kitchen. Both women had sensed him coming down so they weren't startled.

"Not always," Kagome replied, "and FYI when we talk about you we mostly talk about your welfare, not your everyday life. We just want you to recover soon, that's all."

"And what does that have to do with me being stupid?"

"You heard what I said, you would be walking already if you had me or another caregiver from our clinic. You were stupid to follow Kikyou's advice which made you actually worse instead of better."

"It's not her fault, wench. She was obviously misled by her own family doctor so don't blame her."

Kagome was mad, not at him but at Kikyou. She had him so blinded, the only way to open his eyes was to show him proof of what the supermodel really was like. She was so close to telling him everything Kikyou had told her last night but judging by his own mood she was sure he wouldn't believe her, not without proof anyway.

"Is that what she told you or are you just assuming?" Kagome hadn't meant to say it out loud but it just slipped.

Inuyasha glared at her but didn't say anything. He didn't know why he was defending Kikyou, maybe because she was the mother of his unborn pup. But could Kagome be right? He still hadn't asked Kikyou about it so he didn't know if she had anything to do with it. But she couldn't, right? She said she loved him so even the thought that she might want to hurt him was ridiculous. Right? His confusion was making him more angry, now mostly at himself.

Kagome knew she shouldn't have said anything about Kikyou but what's done is done. She looked him straight in the eyes, trying to show him that she meant what she said, she didn't trust Kikyou. But she could also see the wheels in his head starting to turn, maybe things would turn out good if he was already starting to see things the way everybody did.

"Let's just drop the subject, it's too early for arguing," said Kagome after a moment of silence.

"When is your doctor's appointment, Yash?" asked Shiori.

"I don't know, the wench made the appointment. She only told me it was in the afternoon."

"It's at 3.30, _Dogboy_. And stop calling me wench."

"Stop calling me Dogboy."

"Whatever guys. The gang should be here sometime before noon, so what do we do until then?" said Shiori trying to change the subject.

"Kaede is expecting me," she turned to Inuyasha, "I have a feeling whatever is wrong with you might not be cured by using only modern medicine. Besides, I've never had a hanyou as a patient before and I'm sure Kaede can help me with my research so Dr. Suikotsu and I can make a quick recovery plan. What are you gonna do?" replied Kagome.

"I'll be in the studio."

Kagome rolled her eyes at him. Why did she even ask?

"Great, we could work on your new song, Yash" said Shiori. "I'll just clean up the kitchen first and I'll meet you in the studio."

"I can do it if you want, I don't mind," said Kagome, she really didn't want to let Shiori do the dishes by herself.

Shiori shot her a look that Inuyasha recognized instantly.

"Let's go, wench. When she gives you that look you just do whatever she says." He didn't even give her time to reply before he started dragging her out the kitchen.

* * *

Kagome arrived 30 minutes later at the Takahashi mansion. There she spent every minute she could on research. She was glad she had asked Kaede for help, not only did she have more ancient spell books but also healing herbs.

Before they started though Kagome expressed her concerns about his demonic blood and Kaede gave her an object and an incantation that would be able to restrain him from hurting anyone if something went wrong. She also said to always carry it with her, one never knows what could happen.

While researching she remembered Inuyasha mentioning that a few times he had felt a sting in his back near his injury and that after every sting he could feel less and less. After telling Kaede about it she thought it might have been a needle or syringe and that he might be poisoned. It made sense so they immediately searched through all her books of poisons. But by the time she had to leave to pick up Inuyasha they weren't done yet.

Kaede told her to go while she kept searching for poisons that matched Inuyasha's symptoms.

The inu-hanyou and the physical therapist arrived at the clinic with time to spare and were soon in Dr. Suikotsu's office and he didn't look very happy.

She noticed Inuyasha's put on a blank mask, he was bracing himself for the bad news because Dr. Suikotsu did not appear very positive right now.

"Let's cut to the chase, Doc. What's wrong with me?"

Dr. Suikotsu sighed before taking the MRI results out and showed it to them. It did not look good at all.

"You have been injected with some kind of substance and it's now in your bone marrow. We have to get rid of it but we don't know what it is yet. We have to run more tests to find out. And after we remove it we can take a better look at the damage but from what I can gather, it doesn't look very good. Worst case scenario is that you will be completely paralyzed."

Inuyasha was silent, he didn't know how to process it all. All he could think about now was the doctor's last words, he would be completely paralyzed. That meant he would have to give up a lot of things he loved to do. He couldn't be a professional musician anymore, he wouldn't be able to teach his pup everything he wanted to teach him and worst of all he would surely be ridiculed and looked down upon once again by those who despised him. He didn't want his pup to be subjected to that kind of treatment either and being in a wheelchair for the rest of his life kind of makes it a lot harder to protect him.

Kagome sensed his mood change, he was getting anxious but his face was still blank. She put a hand on his shoulder and he was startled. She looked him straight in the eye with a determined look before speaking.

"Don't give up, Inuyasha. I'm not. We don't know what we're dealing with yet but whatever it is we'll get through it. Together. You are not alone in this, your family and friends will support you every step of the way and you also have me. So get your head back in the game because we've only just begun."

Inuyasha looked at her, trying to sense if she was lying. Of course she wasn't, she hasn't lied to him yet. Her words helped a lot, she told him exactly what he needed to hear. She didn't promise him a miraculous recovery but she seemed confident she could do something to help. Hell, anything was better than being completely paralyzed and she exuded confidence in her ability to heal him.

That gave him comfort, comfort he hadn't felt in a long while. He could honestly say to himself that he was glad she was there with him now, but he would never tell her that. He was sure she could sense it anyway so there was no need to tell her.

Even though he kept his mask in place, Kagome could sense and see through his eyes how he let her comfort him. She was suddenly overwhelmed with happiness and relief. Even if he wouldn't admit it out loud (yet), she was certain she was gaining his trust.

"Dr. Suikotsu, can I see the blood test results? I've been thinking that whatever was injected in his spine must be some kind of poison, something strong enough to disable him but not to kill him. It's been in his system for five to six weeks already and he doesn't show any other symptoms than the unremitting progression of his paralysis. Maybe I can figure out what the poison is by looking at the results."

Dr. Suikotsu knew that this was somewhat in her line of expertise so he showed her the results. Both doctor and patient watched her study the results, one patiently, the other impatiently. After a few minutes she told them she might know what it was but had to make a phone call to confirm it and left the office.

It wasn't long before she was back with a paper in her hand and a worried face.

She showed them a copy of an ancient text, it was in ancient Japanese so even with the limited knowledge of Japanese Inuyasha still didn't understand it. He looked up to the doctor to see an expression that probably mirrored his, he was almost certain the doctor didn't even know Japanese, let alone ancient Japanese.

Kagome noticed their expressions and closed her eyes for a moment while taking a deep breath. She was not too happy about the finding but at least they knew what they were dealing with. Unfortunately only she could read the ancient text so she had to explain it before she was to start the healing process and his rehab.

She sighed. "Inuyasha, can I do a spiritual check up on you? I need to know something before I start explaining."

Inuyasha agreed. She turned him around and put her chair in front of him before sitting down. She took a deep breath to relax and saw that the hanyou was tense. She then proceeded to help him relax by doing some breathing exercises and then took both his hands in hers.

Telling him to close his eyes, she did the same. She did a quick check up but was more thorough with his spine. Now that she paid attention to his injury she could feel, or in this case not feel, how he felt. It wasn't pleasant to feel almost completely paralyzed and she vowed to herself that she would do her best to her abilities to heal him.

After that she focused more on the poison and the damage it had caused. It took a total of fifteen minutes to do the spiritual check-up. When she was done she let go of his hands and told him he could open his eyes. She heaved a sigh before addressing the two men.

"Okay, I have good news, bad news and even more bad news. Which would you like first?"

"Why don't you tell us the order you think is best, Kagome," replied Dr. Suikotsu.

"All right, I'll start with the bad news first. This poison is called Miasma. It's very rare in Japan, and even more so here in the US. This poison has a unique ability. Since it's demonic, it means it's magical and whoever it came from is very powerful and can manipulate it. Whoever wants to hurt you, Inuyasha, is only seeking to paralyze you right now but he can still kill you with the amount of poison you have in your system.

"The good news is that I am powerful enough to purify all of it. But the other bad news is that it has been in your system for so long that it's gonna take a lot longer and might be a lot harder to recover. It has affected you healing abilities greatly and I'm going to have to work on that as well.

"I'm really glad we finally found out what the problem has been all along but I suggest I purify the poison soon. Today if possible."

Inuyasha was still processing everything while Dr. Suikotsu asked his assistant Sharon about his schedule. When Inuyasha finally caught up with what was happening Dr. Suikotsu had just finished talking with Sharon.

"Well, Inuyasha, I hope you have tonight free because I'm free after six. Kagome will do the purifying here and I will supervise her as usual."

"Whoa, wait, what? You're going to purify me?" He looked bewildered at Kagome who smiled reassuringly.

"Not you, the poison. Don't worry, I've done it many times. The only difference is that this is a powerful poison and there is a large quantity and that you're a hanyou. But I know I can do it and I want to do it all in one session. I'm gonna take every precaution necessary to make sure I purify every last drop of poison without purifying you. Just in case I want to bring Kaede as well. She has more experience than me, especially when it comes to you and I want to consult her before I purify the poison. Is that okay, Dr. Suikotsu?"

"Who is Kaede?"

"Oh, right. You don't know her. She's the Takahashi family's healer. She's also a miko and she's the one who had the text about the poison. She's very experienced and I'd like to learn everything I can from her. I know I'm powerful but I'm still young and have a lot to learn."

"Well, I see no problem with that. So when do you want to do the procedure?"

She looked at her watch and saw it was four in the afternoon.

"Do you want to have an early dinner?" She asked the hanyou. "The sooner we get rid of the poison the better and I really don't want to wait until tomorrow."

The hanyou sighed. "You're not really asking me are you? I can see you've already made up your mind. But I wanna get rid of this poison too, so yeah, let's do this thing. The sooner the better."

"Great! How about we check you in tonight at eight? That way we can eat, relax and prepare for it."

Both men agreed and they were soon on their way home.

When they got home everyone was there and after giving them the news they were all concerned but still happy that things would soon be better.

The gang thought it was a good reason to celebrate and they all went out to a restaurant. Kagome had called Kaede before leaving the house and Inuyasha called his parents and Sesshomaru on their way to the restaurant to tell them the news. He then called Kikyou and told her where they were going. She sounded worried but the hanyou only thought she was concerned about the procedure.

Ten minutes after the gang was seated at the restaurant Kikyou arrived with Kagura and she did not look happy.

"Inuyasha, I won't allow you to do something so dangerous. If she makes one little mistake she will purify you and I won't have that!" she said when she reached the table.

Everyone glared at her and they all wanted to give her a piece of their mind but they kept their mouths shut knowing it wasn't really their business. They were all concerned about the procedure but they had faith in Kagome that she could purify the miasma without hurting the hanyou.

"Kikyou, I have poison in my bone marrow! If I wasn't a hanyou I would be dead already. I know it's risky but I'm willing to do anything to recover."

"Even if it means it could kill you? She's going to use purification, Inuyasha! What if she kills you instead of healing you? What's going to happen to me then?" the supermodel yelled.

"Is that all you care about? What will happen to _you_?" said Kagome angrily, standing up. "Stop being such a selfish bitch and think about Inuyasha for once in your life. If I don't purify the poison it will completely paralyze him and probably kill him in the future. So tell me, what's really more important? That he would take a chance now and heal completely or just let the poison take its course and kill him someday? And what will happen to you _then_?" she mocked.

"This is none of your business, Higurashi." She replied nastily. "This is between me and my fiancé. And I can't marry him if you 'accidentally' kill him."

Everyone was was taken aback before they all shouted as if in a unified choir, "fiancé?", followed by everyone asking different questions at the same time.

"You're engaged?"

"Since when?"

"What the fuck were you thinking, mutt face?"

"Guys! You're getting off track." Kagome snapped and then turned to Kikyou once again. "So _that's_ what this is all about! You're purposely keeping him paralyzed and what, after you get married you can finally get rid of him and have all his money?"

"Kagome, what are you talking about?" asked a confused Inuyasha.

"Don't listen to her, Inuyasha. She's just a gold digger and she's making stuff up to break us up so she could take advantage of you," said Kikyou angrily.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome questioningly. She was looking angrily at Kikyou but when she turned to the hanyou her anger deflated slightly and her narrowed eyes softened a little.

"You know more about me than any of the others, Inuyasha. You know I don't need the money and you know I hate being in the spotlight. What she's claiming makes no sense at all. All I want is to help you recover, like I promised."

They looked at each other for a long moment with Kagome trying to convey what she said through her eyes and her senses and Inuyasha trying to read her. He could always count on his senses if he paid attention, but looking into her eyes was enough to know what his senses confirmed.

"I believe you, Kagome."

"WHAT!" shrieked the supermodel. "How dare you believe she won't hurt you? You've barely known her for three days! _I_ am your fiancé and the mother your unborn child! How dare you treat me like this?"

"Unborn child?"

"You got her pregnant?"

"What the fuck were you thinking, mutt face?"

Inuyasha was never known for his patience, but for some inexplicable reason he was patient enough to listen to what Kikyou had to say. That is until now.

"Kikyou, I don't really want to get married but I only agreed because of the pup. I didn't think you were capable of being this deceitful," said Inuyasha calmly.

He faintly heard Shiori gasp, she, including their family, was the only one out of the group who has ever seen him in this state before. Yes he was calm, but he was seething on the inside.

He was being played the entire time and he never even noticed. He even brushed aside the signs she displayed the last couple of weeks and that made him even angrier.

"Inuyasha, I'm not deceiving you, she is," Kikyou said angrily pointing at Kagome. Everyone besides Kagome and Inuyasha snorted and/or gave her a disbelieving look. "Look, I love you. You know that right? So why would I want to do what she's claiming?"

'She's still denying playing me? I can't believe her! And to think I actually liked her!' he thought to himself.

"Well, you didn't deny it," Kagome pointed out.

"Kagome's right. But I'll give you one last chance to tell me the truth. I want you to look me straight in the eyes and tell me if you had anything to do with this or not."

Kikyou was scared, everything she'd worked for was falling apart. And she had no back-up plan, no way to shift the blame on someone else because the one she planned to blame had Inuyasha's complete utter trust.

She didn't want to look him in the eyes in fear of letting her mask slip and revealing everything to him. But he was calm, he didn't seem angry so maybe she had a chance to save herself yet. If not, she had one more trick up her sleeve but only as a last resort.

She looked at him and he seemed calm, but when she looked into his eyes she could see the anger lying just beneath the surface. This was a whole new level of anger, she had never seen him like this before. He would usually just vent his anger when he was angry but this silent anger seemed dangerous and for the first time in her life she was terrified of him.

Despite all this she tried her best to hide her feelings, she knew the demons and spiritualists in the room would know if she didn't hide them. But however brief she let her emotions show, it was enough for Inuyasha and Kagome to sense, with their senses being on high alert.

"What she's claiming is preposterous! I love you, Inuyasha and I have never thought about hurting you. You and our baby mean everything to me, so why would I want to throw everything away by doing something so ridiculous?"

Whether she knew it or not, Inuyasha could hear her slightly irregular heartbeat. And with Kagome being a powerful miko there was no way she could hide from them that she was lying.

"Miroku, call Sesshomaru. He's gonna have to deal with her because I am so close to killing her lying ass," he said coldly still looking at the supermodel.

"Right, I'm on it," Miroku said before getting up and walking a little further away from the group. Everyon stayed silent but alert, they were prepared to take action if Kikyou or Kagura, who had been silent the entire time, decided to do something.

"Wait, if you're pregnant, why can't we sense it?" asked Ayame suddenly.

"She has a concealment spell on. I can sense it and it's very powerful," answered the physical therapist.

"She told me last night she had it tattooed on her skin. Do you think you can get rid of it to see if she's indeed pregnant? "asked Inyasha.

Kagome smiled at him. "Of course, it's powerful, but nothing I can't handle. Besides, I know this spell very well so I shouldn't be long."

With that she immediately put Kikyou in a barrier before starting to chant in ancient Japanese, tearing the concealment spell apart. It came apart in less than a minute while Kikyou tried to get out. Kagura finally did try to help her friend out but anything she did was pointless.

Kagome lowered her barrier so that everyone could sense if she was pregnant. The demons all sniffed while Kagome and Miroku used their spiritual powers to sense it.

Well, there was one thing Kikyou hadn't lied about. She was indeed pregnant.

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_A/N: There's a lot more to come so let me know what you think of the story so far._

_Until next time ;)_

_Grtz, JJ_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: Hey guys, thanks so much for all the reviews. I'm not one of those writers that crave reviews but I have to admit that it felt great reading all the reviews and knowing that you all like my story. Of course, I can't forget all of you who've who put me and KHO on Story/Author Alert/Favorite. It really helps in the motivation department :P, so thank you as well._

_Also, Glon Morski, thank you so much for your advice, I'll definitely keep it in mind when writing the rest of the story. _

_So anyway, have fun reading ;)_

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 11**

Things were suddenly looking up for Kikyou. If there was one thing she knew it was that Inuyasha really wanted to be a father. She would have never guessed before but after last night she saw a whole new side of him. This was her ticket out of trouble.

The supermodel looked at everyone, a smug look on her face. "Judging by your expressions I guess you thought I might have lied about my pregnancy too." She turned to Inuyasha. "How about we make a deal, Inuyasha? You give me all your fortune, including your share of your family's money and company and I promise to carry the pregnancy to term and hand over the baby to you."

Inuyasha glowered at her. He had never felt such hatred for anyone as he was feeling now for the woman who just yesterday claimed to love him. His demon was raging on the inside, it took all he had to control him and keep him from taking over and going on a rampage. "What kind of woman are you?" he growled.

"One who's not dumb enough to pass up a great chance such as this. So do we have a deal? If not the first thing I'll do is get rid of it. By any means necessary."

Inuyasha growled. He couldn't let his pup be killed without even being born. He had no other choice.

"Only if you agree to my conditions, or you get nothing." It was a gamble but he wasn't stupid like everyone thought he was, he was just ignorant. And because of his ignorance he found himself in this situation, he hated himself for it but mostly because of the position his pup was in.

He would do anything for his unborn pup, even if he hadn't known until a little while ago just how much he wanted to be a father. However, if he was going to make a deal with the supermodel he was going to have to have some control in the situation. He wouldn't give her the chance to take advantage of him once again.

Kikyou silently debated what to do. She wanted – no, needed – that money and she would get it by any means necessary. It was the only way she could show him how much she loved him.

She was still coming to terms with being pregnant and hadn't fully accepted it yet, she had never thought of herself as a motherly type of person. So she knew she had to decide soon if she was going to get rid of the baby or not.

She wasn't stupid though, she knew the longer she waited to have an abortion the riskier the procedure would be and she didn't want to risk her life. It would be easier to give birth and then give the baby up for adoption if things didn't go her way. But no one needed to know that, least of all Inuyasha. So after a long moment of thinking she reluctantly agreed.

"Good, but before we have our lawyers set up an agreement you're gonna have to be kept under surveillance. I don't trust you alone with my pup."

Inuyasha told Kouga and Shippou to 'escort' Kikyou to the house. When she protested he told her she could take Kagura so she wouldn't be alone but warned them not to do anything otherwise there would be no deal.

He called Sesshomaru who told him he was outside at the back of the restaurant talking to the police –the restaurant manager must've called them when they all ignored him – and trying to keep the paparazzi away since they'd been tipped off. They agreed to meet at the back so they could go home where the hanyou would explain what had happened.

Before anyone moved, Inuyasha told the gang that Sessh was at the back with the police and that they had to be careful of the paparazzi. He nodded to the two male youkai who took it as their cue and led Kikyou and Kagura to the back. Luckily they'd all parked their cars there.

They were followed by the rest of the gang, Kagome and Inuyasha being last.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha, about all this. This should be a happy occasion for you instead of all this drama." said Kagome quietly.

Inuyasha snorted, "Keh, well, I've been through worse."

Kagome stopped walking just when they exited the restaurant. The hanyou stopped a second later and turned around, puzzled at why she'd stopped.

"You deserve better," she told him, "you know that, right?"

His senses told him she was being completely honest and his eyes widened. No one besides his family has ever told him that, he'd stopped believing them when his life just got worse instead of better. What was the point of believing in things getting better when the reality was the total opposite? He didn't want to lie to himself then and wasn't going to start now either.

But the honesty and sincerity he saw in her eyes was almost enough to make him believe her.

"I'm a filthy half-breed, Kagome. I _don't_ deserve better. I've been lucky, especially with my career but I really don't deserve it and I know it. If it wasn't for who my family is I wouldn't be where I am today. I would be where I belong, on the street, living a miserable life- OW! What the hell was that for, wench?"

Kagome looked at him angrily. She'd pinched his left ear but she really wanted to smack him to make him come to his senses. She was angry, not him but at the people who'd told him all those lies he apparently believed.

"That is total bullshit, Inuyasha and you know it! Yes, you've been through a lot of shit growing up but you are a better person than all those people who looked down on you. You've made something of yourself and you did it with the help of your friends and family who care about you. They are all good people, do you really think they would have helped you if you didn't deserve it? If you really think that then I guess you don't deserve them. Why can't you open your eyes and see what we see, Inuyasha?"

He was speechless. He really didn't have any argument against it. He looked around at his friends and siblings. They all wore expressions conveying how much they cared about him (except Sesshomaru, he rarely displayed emotions so he didn't take it in stride, he was used to it).

He never thought they cared this much, sure he trusted them but not enough to trust them with everything. He was afraid of letting them completely in in case they'd one day leave him like all those pretenders had when he'd needed them the most. He felt like such an ass now.

"They'll forgive you," said Kagome interrupting his thoughts. "They're your friends after all. And you can count on them whenever you need them. Besides, you also have me now. I'll make sure you're able to walk in less than six months, just in time for the pup to be born."

"Six months?" asked Sesshomaru who had been silent until then. He was surprised, which he hid very well, when he had smelled the unborn pup in Kikyou's womb but what had surprised him more was this unknown spiritualist claiming the pup would be born in six months.

"Yes, she's just begun her second trimester," replied Kagome.

"How can you tell? And who are you anyway?"

"Kagome Higurashi," she replied shaking his hand, "I'm his new physical therapist and I happen to be a miko. And to answer your other question I can sense the pup clearly, and I can tell how developed it is. It coincides with being approximately thirteen to fourteen weeks of development, so about three months."

"The fucking whore!" Sesshomaru swore.

He said it loud enough for even the humans to hear which stunned them all, especially Inuyasha. In all his life he had never heard his stoic brother swear.

Sessh turned to Inuyasha and looked at him straight in the eyes. "She's not carrying your pup."

"What? How do you know?"

"Because I always know where you are and what you're up to and I know where we were when she was impregnated." He waited a moment to let the hanyou put everything together but his patience was wearing thin and Inuyasha just seemed too slow. "We were on tour in the east coast, you moron," he told his brother. "And Kikyou was definitely not there, she said she had a photo shoot in Hawaii."

This news nearly knocked all the breath out of Inuyasha. He looked and felt heartbroken. He turned to Kagome and asked desperately if she was sure the pup was thirteen weeks old.

She didn't want to lie to him but if it wasn't his pup then it was better to know right now instead of later when the pup is born.

"I'm positive…I'm so sorry."

His ears drooped and he lowered his face, using his bangs to conceal his reaction but everyone who could sense it knew how this news crushed him. He really wanted this pup, even if his mother was a horrible person.

His feelings were so overwhelming that Kagome couldn't help letting a few tears fall. It was as if she was letting out his emotions for him. She quickly blocked his emotions from herself, being an empath wasn't always a good thing, it was all getting too much for her to take in.

"It took me a while to estimate how far along she was since I wasn't touching her but I double checked before telling you. I'm sorry, Inuyasha."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he told her, glaring coldly at Kikyou murderously who, being led by Shippou, was being pushed to Sango's SUV.

Nobody but the demons with good hearing in the group had heard their entire conversation since they'd been very quiet while they were discussing the supermodel's pregnancy and the others were making their way to their cars. They didn't get in there cars yet though, not knowing what to do while awaiting Inuyasha's reaction before doing anything.

Kagome looked around and saw that they were the center of attention. The restaurant manager was talking to the police and she could see lots of people from afar.

This was something that shouldn't be discussed in public so she stretched her senses to see how much attention they had gathered. Unfortunately it was a lot, from what she could see several were policemen trying to keep the people away. And she also saw a lot of cameras around.

They had made quite a scene earlier in the restaurant so the paparazzi had probably been tipped off and she had a feeling there would soon be an even bigger scene, but not if she could avoid it. Or at least postpone it until later.

"Inuyasha," Kagome put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention and give him some kind of support," maybe we should discuss the rest at the house. We're creating a scene and there are already lots a people around, including the paparazzi," she told him quietly.

He looked at her briefly before returning to glare at his now ex-fiancé. They hadn't said it was over but when your fiancé bribes you with the life of your supposed unborn pup then it was implied things were over.

Kagome kept her hand on Inuyasha trying to calm him down by using her aura.

Sesshomaru went back to talk to the police to see how his earlier instructions about getting both bands out of there safely were coming along.

Kagome told Inuyasha that they had better get moving. He only nodded and wheeled his way to the SUV. Kagome walked next to him and hadn't taken but three steps before hearing Sango yelling angrily.

"She's three months pregnant?"

Apparently Shiori or Ayame had informed her. They were the only people standing near her.

Kikyou turned around quickly with eyes wide open and looking desperately at Kagura. She knew her plan had gone to hell right now. She just knew that Inuyasha had figured out the baby wasn't his.

She couldn't believe it. They had only met the physical therapist three days ago and everything she's worked for all these months was ruined. If she thought she was going to get away with ruining her then she thought wrong. She was going to pay for everything.

"Kagura, get rid of her!" she yelled.

Kagura knew exactly who she meant, the only thing Kikyou had been complaining lately was the new physical therapist who also happened to be a miko. She didn't really want to hurt her, she had done nothing to the former Shikon Girls' frontwoman. But she had to, she kept reminding herself, she had no other choice but to do as Kikyou said.

She took out her fan –from where, nobody really knew– and waved it rapidly to create a strong wind gust. Everyone braced themselves and she took advantage of that split second where everyone still had their guards down.

"Fujin no Mai!"

She waved her fan at everyone but most of the attack was aimed directly at Kagome, creating a wind gust that morphed as it traveled through the air into a surplus of crescent-shaped blades.

Kagome reacted quickly and erected a barrier several feet in front of her and Inuyasha but she wasn't quick enough. The first few blades were so fast that by the time the barrier was up and blocking the rest they had already passed where she put it up.

Inuyasha saw the blades coming and his body reacted before his mind could register himself moving. He pushed himself off his wheelchair with his hands, grabbed Kagome and pushed her down.

He felt nothing, so he thought they escaped just fine. He looked down at Kagome, their noses touching. She was grimacing, probably because he was crushing her with his weight. He moved his arms and started to lift himself off of her but he suddenly felt really dizzy and the acrid smell of blood reached his nostrils.

He tried to push himself to the side but everything was spinning and his vision started to blur. He felt weak and tried with all his might to stay awake.

He looked her in the eyes and couldn't help showing her how scared he was. She looked concerned and was about to say something when they faintly heard people calling their names.

Kagome could see and more importantly feel how weak and scared he felt. She knew he was in bad condition. She didn't know the extent of his injuries but it was sure taking a toll on his already weak body. They had to get him to a hospital soon or he wouldn't make it.

The guys were calling their names and she looked around to see where they were. She hadn't noticed she hadn't lowered her barrier yet, that's why they were calling them. They could see Inuyasha was hurt but they couldn't get to him.

Quickly lowering the barrier, she turned her attention back at Inuyasha who seemed ready to pass out. That was not good.

"Stay with me, Inuyasha."

He was suddenly lifted off of her and laid down beside her, still on his stomach. He didn't understand why, he wanted to ask but his mind was fuzzy.

He turned his head slowly to look around for Kagome. She was on her knees on his right side, he could see blood trickling down her right arm. That meant he hadn't protected her well enough, she was still hurt. He was a lousy protector. He hated himself for it, especially because she had been nothing but considerate and he couldn't return the favor by protecting her when she needed it.

Right now he loathed his paralysis. He didn't care if he was hurt, he always had been anyway so this was nothing new. But she was hurt because of him, she was just an innocent victim in this whole plot created by Kikyou and only because she had discovered her schemes.

His demon was getting even more restless now, it was so close to the surface that it took every ounce of willpower he had left to keep it at bay. But he was getting tired, wanting to go to sleep. His body was starting to feel numb, his eyelids too heavy but he kept fighting until he didn't have the strength anymore to hold on. The last thought in his mind before passing out was that he didn't want to die.

Not a second after closing his eyes his energy pulsed and started to flare. Everyone froze, not knowing exactly why this was happening.

Kagome didn't know what was happening at first but understood the moment she felt Inuyasha's demonic energy overpowering his human energy and cursed out loud.

Before she could say anything else Sesshomaru was at her side hauling her away. He didn't waste time barking instructions to the girls to get away and keep everyone far away from the hanyou. He told Shiori to go to the house and bring the Tessaiga. She took off running before he finished his instructions to the others. She knew that time was of essence and the sooner she left, the sooner she'd be back.

She was very fast for a hanyou, almost as fast as Ayame. And they could both run faster than a regular car so even if they could've sent Sango or Rin, who could also touch the Tessaiga because they were human, they would take longer than Shiori.

Kouga, Miroku, Shippou and Sesshomaru were going to hold him off so that he wouldn't attack innocent people while waiting for the sword to arrive to bring him out of this state before he lost his mind to his demonic blood.

Kagome stayed close by monitoring his change. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. His hair grew a little longer and somehow looked wilder, his claws and fangs grew longer and sharper and purple jagged stripes appeared on both his cheeks. But what shocked her was how much she sensed his power increasing. His demonic blood he inherited from his father was powerful and no doubt dangerous, especially since he couldn't control it.

Then suddenly what Sesshomaru said finally registered. He was going to lose his mind the longer it took to bring him out of this state.

"Stay with me, Inuyasha," she pleaded. His ears twitched and for a second his change stalled but then continued as if nothing had happened, his energy seemingly endless since it kept increasing.

Inuyasha stood up slowly, as if he was never paralyzed. He kept looking down, using his bangs to conceal most of his face but when he finally lifted his head and opened his eyes she knew this wasn't the hanyou she knew anymore. Instead of those beautiful golden eyes she secretly liked she saw a pair of red and blue.

He growled viciously, causing everyone's hair to stand on end. He cracked his hands, then his neck followed by the rest of his body, preparing himself to fight.

Their eyes locked and he smirked. Before she knew it she was being hauled farther away from the hanyou-tuned-youkai. It was just in time too otherwise those long, sharp claws would have slashed right through her. He did manage to cut off a good piece of her hair, which had swayed in front of her face when she was pulled back.

She was shocked for a second before turning to her rescuer. Kouga.

"Kagome, it's dangerous here! Go to the other girls, they're keeping everybody safe. They could really use your help while we wait on Shiori to bring the sword."

"Wait, what? I'm not going anywhere! And what sword?"

"Kagome, don't argue with me. Just go. Now!"

"What sword, Kouga?" she demanded.

He heaved a sigh."The Tessaiga. His father made it to contain his demonic energy so this," he said pointing at Inuyahsa, "doesn't happen."

She saw the battle going one between Inuyasha and the other guys. Shippou and Miroku were tiring fast, only Sesshomaru was able to hold him off long enough without getting hurt but if you paid attention you could tell it wasn't easy.

Her mind drifted suddenly to what Kaede had told her that very same day while handing her the object she now had in her possession.

"_You'll know if and when you have to use these, Kagome. Don't hesitate when the opportunity arises, for if you do it could be too late."_

She knew what she had to do. So she told Kouga she had a plan and to go help the guys while she did her thing.

Kouga looked into her eyes and knew whatever he'd say wouldn't change her mind. He nodded and left quickly.

Kagome ran to her bag, which had been thrown aside sometime, got the rosary Kaede had given her, took a deep breath to focus and quickly began chanting the incantation she had memorized only this morning. The rosary glowed a bright pink before separating in several beads which flew towards the unsuspecting hanyou, forming once again into the rosary around his neck.

There was only one more thing left to say to finish the spell, the subjugation word. Everything went the way it should have up until the subjugation word. She suddenly drew blank. She didn't know the right word. Kaede had explained that the right word would come to her but she couldn't think of anything.

A growl drew her out of her thoughts and she focused on where it came from. Inuyasha.

He was squatting down, yanking and biting the rosary trying to take it off. But once it was put on the only person who could take it off was the one who cast the subjugation word. She knew she was running out of time though, if she didn't complete the incantation soon he would be able to take it off himself.

Inuyasha looked around and set his eyes on her. She was the strongest spiritualist nearby so he figured out she was the one who had put the blasted necklace on him.

He growled once again and leapt towards her, ready to strike her with his claws.

Some people say that when you know you're going to die your life flashes before your eyes. The good, the bad, things you were proud of or things you regret. You really have no control over what memories flash before your eyes until it all stops. Either you're dead or you've survived.

For Kagome there came only one memory. She was back in Japan, about eight or nine years ago. She was walking in a park near her family's shrine on a nice summer day. There were lots of people, some with family and others with friends.

There were also a lot of people with their pets. One of those pets was an angry pitbull heading straight for her. To this day she didn't know why it came towards her while there were half a dozen people in between her and the dog. She hadn't noticed him until it was almost too late. She stood still, too shocked to move but right before she decided to move came its owner's command which, to her dismay, fell on deaf ears. That is until she shouted the same command and to her and the dog's owner's surprise made him stop immediately.

"OSUWARI!"

The beads glowed bright once again signaling the completion of the incantation and brought the hanyou-turned-youkai down. Hard.

Those nearby could immediately sense the change. His demonic energy was receding, his energy was balancing itself once again.

After a moment, Inuyasha was back to normal but he wasn't moving. Kagome ran to his side and saw that he was just unconscious.

She sighed in relief only to be hit by dizziness. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She did a quick spiritual check-up and found out why she was dizzy. She opened her eyes and looked at her right arm, there was a six inch long wound and it was still bleeding. 'Well, that's going to leave a scar' she thought dryly.

She had been so worried about Inuyasha that she hadn't noticed she was bleeding. But one look at the hanyou and she blocked everything she felt and started tending to him.

She slapped his face gently trying to wake him up, she didn't want to shake him to avoid further injuring the hanyou. Fortunately he did wake up. He groaned before opening his eyes a little and looked at her but it was like nothing was registering. She had to work fast. Her mindset changed quickly from a concerned friend to the professional physical therapist/miko and she began giving orders.

"Sesshomaru," she called. "Call an ambulance and call Dr. Suikotsu. We have to take him to the clinic. Tell Kaede to meet us there, I'm gonna need her help."

She ripped his shirt off so she could see how hurt he was. It looked bad, he had several large gashes in his back that were bleeding profusely. She quickly took off her cardigan, ripped it in half and used both pieces to put pressure on as many wounds as possible.

"Tell them to hurry, he's losing a lot of blood and fast. We have to get him to the clinic soon before he loses any more blood. On top of that the miasma in his system has already made him weak, the chances that he'll make it now are small," she said earnestly.

"I trust you to do everything you can to save him."

She nodded and went back to focusing on her work quickly.

Kouga stood there, mouth gaping. Sesshomaru had said he trusted her. He'd never thought he'd ever hear those words coming out of his mouth. Especially being directed at a woman he'd just met.

"Kouga, don't just stand there. Help me stop his bleeding."

He snapped out of it and quickly helped Kagome by putting pressure on his wounds. His back looked like he'd been slashed with a sharp knife repeatedly.

It was almost a miracle that he was still alive, albeit barely, he had lost so much blood. As soon as Kagome was sure Kouga could keep Inuyasha from bleeding out she started healing the wounds, she knew she needed to save as much energy for the purification so she made sure she healed him enough to just stop the bleeding.

"Stay with me, Inuyasha. Don't give up," she muttered, mostly to herself.

About five minutes later an ambulance finally arrived. The EMT's took over for Kouga, trying to stabilize the hanyou and took him to the clinic.

At first they didn't want to bring Kagome with them in the ambulance but Sesshomaru demanded she go because she was the only one competent enough to work with hanyou. That wasn't entirely true but they didn't know that. But what really made them change their mind was the threat of having them fired and unable to find a job in the state of California. Or maybe it was because Sesshomaru could look scary as hell when he wanted to.

They reluctantly agreed and went to the clinic. It was a little further away than the nearest hospital but Kagome assured them that they had better equipment and that his doctor was already waiting for them.

While they were on their way she started purifying the poison. He was going to need a blood transfusion, but because the miasma was still in his system she was afraid he wouldn't make it by the time they got to the clinic.

By the time they arrived almost twenty minutes had passed since she'd started the purification process. She was already very tired, the effects of blood loss were finally getting to her, not to mention the dull pain she was ignoring as well, but because of her determination she had purified a good amount of the poison.

It was very hard though, besides purifying the poison she had to make sure she didn't purify Inuyasha. And now that she felt weaker than usual it was going to be harder to stay focused and get the job done.

The EMT's took Inuyasha to the emergency room where a staff was standing ready to take over. Dr. Suikotsu approached them first, he let the men relay everything he needed to know about his patient only because it was protocol. He also knew Kagome needed to stay focused while she was purifying and that she would talk only when she felt confidant she could talk without risking the patient. Besides, he was sure she's been keeping an ear out on whatever's been going on all along, she was one hell of a multi tasker.

"Do you have anything to add, Kagome?" the doctor asked while he and his staff were examining the hanyou's wounds.

"He's lost a lot of blood and because the quantity of hanyou blood in blood banks everywhere is significantly less than human or demonic blood I thought it would be wise to start the purification immediately instead of doing it after a transfusion. This should reduce the chance of blood poisoning by the miasma."

"Good call, Kagome. How much have you purified already?"

"About a third of the miasma. I need someone to take care of my arm. I was also cut but it doesn't have any effect on me yet so don't worry," she said the last part because she could feel his worry for her.

A nurse came into the room, interrupting them, and told Dr. Suikotsu that an elderly woman was here. She was apparently asked to assist Kagome. She only nodded, her focus never wavering, so the doctor allowed the nurse to bring her in only after she had been dressed in scrubs.

Dr. Suikotsu turned back to Kagome and insisted she go put on clean scrubs since her clothes were bloody and to let a nurse take care of her arm as well. She wanted to argue that she didn't need to leave to get her wound stitched but one look at the doctor and her own clothes shut her up. However, she did insist to leave until Kaede was able to take over. She knew she had to get herself cleaned up and the sooner the better.

When Kaede arrived in the room she was stunned for a moment. She had seen Inuyasha grow up since he was a baby, had seen almost every bruise and injury he'd gotten and healed almost all those injuries as well.

She thought she'd seen the worst he would ever get in all the years he'd been abused but nothing could have prepared her to see him in this state, lying on a hospital bed, for the second time in less than two months. Bloody, badly wounded and poisoned. But he was still fighting for his life. Of that she had no doubt.

She put all her emotions aside. It wouldn't do anyone good if she couldn't compartmentalize. She was going to do all she could to help save the hanyou's life.

The doctors, nurses, Kagome and Kaede worked on Inuyasha for almost two more hours before he was finally stabilized. They had stitched him up, given him a blood transfusion while Kagome and Kaede had purified all the poison. They were sure he would start healing soon, albeit slowly.

Kagome was by his side the entire time, even when they put him in a room in the ICU. When she saw him lying in bed, she could finally afford to feel what she's been ignoring all night long.

The exhaustion hit her hard, though, everything she'd done required a lot of energy and the fact that she had bled a lot before using her spiritual powers almost drained all the energy she had. She had made sure to hide her exhaustion until she had done her job otherwise they would've removed her from the room and let Kaede take over.

She knew Kaede was capable of doing the purification, but she was not as powerful as she was when she was younger and even just assisting the young miko, Kagome could see that it was taking a toll on the older woman.

Dr. Suikotsu had just finished making sure the hanyou was stable and comfortable when he looked at Kagome. He could immediately tell she was not doing well. She was pale and she looked so exhausted that he was afraid she would collapse right then and there.

Unfortunately she did just that. The last thing she heard was Dr. Suikotsu calling for assistance after she felt him catch her.

* * *

_A/N: I feel like I've been dragging the story a little so that's the reason for adding more drama. So what do you think so far? Let me know, constructive criticism is always welcome._

_Grtz, JJ_


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 12**

He slowly opened his eyes, blinking away the last remnants of sleep. He looked around and saw the familiar sight of his room at home. In an instant everything that had happened the past week came back to him.

It'd been a week since he woke up in the clinic to the annoying beeping sounds of his monitors and the scent of antiseptic. A week since seeing her sleeping form at his bedside, her arms folded and placed on his bed and her head using them as a pillow. She was facing him and he noticed she looked very pale. When he tried to sense what was wrong with her he realized he could barely sense her spiritual powers and he instantly grew concerned. Besides that he thought it was really odd she was wearing her pajamas.

He gave himself a once over and noticed his left hand was touching a familiar object. One look at it told him everything he needed to know. Once again the balance of his demonic and human blood had shifted and his beast took over. The sword lying at his side was to prevent that from happening while he was unconscious, especially since he was injured.

He looked back at the raven haired woman and saw that her hair seemed shorter and wondered why she'd cut it. Without thinking he slowly brushed a lock of hair that had fallen over her face, causing her to stir awake.

She blinked a couple of times before her eyes focused on him. They widened a little and she smiled in relief.

"So," she paused to let out a yawn, "you finally decided to wake up and stop lazing around, Dogboy?"

"Feh, don't call me Dogboy," he said in a scratchy voice. "How long was I asleep?"

"Promise not to freak out?" she hesitated. He nodded while she poured him a glass of water, trying to buy some time to break the news to him. After he was done drinking she finally answered him, "You've been in a coma for almost three days now."

He was silent for a few moments, thinking about what had happened that landed him in the hospital once again. It didn't take long to remember, though.

Kagome noted a lot of expressions on his face, those that stood out mostly were anger and sadness. She could only guess why but thought better not to pry, at least not yet. If he wanted to tell her then she'd let him but she doubted he'd confide in her, at least not at the moment.

"I'm not gonna be a father," he whispered sadly.

"No," she replied softly. "I'm so sorry, but I had to tell you. You deserved to know the truth. I just hated hurting your feelings."

"You think I'm mad at you?" he asked confused. She nodded, "I'm not mad at you, Kagome, I should be thanking you actually, which now that I think about it I haven't done yet. So… thank you, Kagome."

"You're welcome," she smiled meekly. "But like I said, you deserved to know the truth so don't let it get you down. Someday, I'm sure you will become a father and have your own family, Inuyasha. Don't give up hope."

She put her hand on his but he just sighed a shoulder and looked away from her. However, he didn't remove her hand from his, somehow finding comfort in that simple touch.

"I'd better let everyone know you're awake."

He only nodded and she went to look for a nurse. While he waited he looked around the hospital room and saw a notebook and a pen on the chair Kagome was sitting on. He guessed she'd been writing before she fell asleep and he made a mental note to get one for himself. He had a feeling he was going to need it while he was still at the clinic.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath he recognized the scents of his friends, his family and his doctor still lingering in the air. He also smelled a few unknown scents which he guessed belonged to the nurses.

Even his father's scent was lingering there, though very faint. That meant he'd been in serious danger and the fact that his demon took over was all the more reason for his father to make sure he was okay.

He rarely saw his father anymore, he mostly did at events they were obliged to attend, if he was dying or whenever his demon took over. The last time he'd seen his father was after the accident that had almost completely paralyzed him. But he hadn't seen him anymore since the day he got back home.

No matter how much he loved his father, he knew their relationship was nothing like it was when he was younger, nor will it ever be. Ever since he started his career their relationship took a turn for the worse.

He had always been strict, Sessh was a stoic, colder version of their father. He had wanted both his 'boys', as he liked to call them, to work for him in their company. Back then he didn't have any plans for Shiori yet, the lucky brat.

When he expressed his desire to pursue a singing career his father had not taken the news well. However, thanks to Sesshomaru and his brilliant (more like opportunistic) mind, they had come to an agreement to sign his band to their own record label. Sessh would become their manager so that he could keep a close eye on him. He was mostly forced into agreeing to that, otherwise there wouldn't have been any deal and they probably would've made it difficult for the guys to find another record label who would sign them.

Since then his relationship with Sesshomaru had improved a little as well. After a while of working with each other they had come to some kind of silent agreement to not to try to kill each other anymore, neither would gain much from it besides satisfaction. The desire, however, would always be there. Till this day they still fight each other, just not as often as before.

The nurse came in to check on him while Kagome stayed outside. Before leaving the nurse told him she would get the doctor.

When Kagome came back she told him she had called his mother and that everyone was coming back. Apparently they had only left less than an hour before he woke up. His mother and sister went to get a change of clothes to stay the night again while the rest were dealing with the police and the media.

He was silent the entire time they were waiting on them. He didn't really feel like talking so he asked a nurse for pen and paper and kept his mind busy by writing to block the pain in his back. He didn't like pain but he'd rather feel that than the numb feeling from pain medications. It made him feel alive.

He also realized his legs didn't feel as numb as before but he didn't want to say anything yet in case numbness returned.

In the meantime, Kagome had gone back to her notebook and was writing when the whole gang arrived.

After that it was all a blur, they all kept talking and asking him how he was feeling and telling him how worried they were. Mostly the girls expressed how concerned they were but he could read all of them very well now (he'd never really bothered to pay much attention before), especially the guys, they had all been worried for him. And though he wouldn't tell them out loud yet, it meant a lot to him that they cared so much about him.

They even asked Kagome how she was feeling but she assured them she was fine in a tone that meant she didn't want to be asked anymore and they all backed off and focused back on him instead.

They told him he'd been unconscious for almost three days, he reacted poorly to the anesthetic after it had come into contact with the miasma. It was moments like these that he wished he was a youkai and not a hanyou. He hated his body for being weak for he knew that was the reason it took him so long to wake up. But what he hated more was that he had worried his friends and family. He never wanted them to worry about him, after all, he didn't think he deserved it.

Dr. Suikotsu came to check up on him and asked everyone to wait outside. After examining him he said he was recovering fast, and that everything (except for his three day coma) seemed to be going according to plan.

When asked what he could remember, since he has suffered from memory loss before when turning youkai, he said he remembered everything until being hit by Kagura's attack. The doctor then told him a short version of what had happened afterwards and what they did to patch him up.

He was told he turned youkai but was subdued thanks to his new beaded necklace that he'd only then noticed he was wearing. Kagome had temporarily stopped the bleeding before the paramedics arrived by using reiki. Later, when he was brought to the clinic they stopped the bleeding, gave him a blood transfusion and stitched him up while Kagome and Kaede purified the miasma. The latter, he remembered, was the only planned procedure of the night.

Although he wanted to know more details he didn't know if the doctor knew everything and he was feeling really tired so he decided to ask the next day. Everyone came back to his room but this time just to say goodbye and then promptly left so that he could get some rest.

The next day they did more thorough tests, mostly to see if they had missed something. They hadn't of course, they even discovered he had started to heal a bit faster than he had been after the accident.

He hadn't seen Kagome all day that day and when he asked his friends where she was they only told him she was feeling tired and changed the subject. He thought it was weird but he thought if something was wrong with her they would tell him so he didn't bother to ask anymore.

The next day he was to restart his physical therapy but he wasn't told that it wouldn't be with Kagome until he was introduced to another physical therapist right before his session. He refused his services and loudly expressed his anger when they tried to convince him that the sooner he started his rehab the sooner he would recover.

He refused to start physical therapy without Kagome, after all, she had promised that they would do it together. He wanted to find her but every time he asked for the raven haired woman they would say that she wasn't feeling well but they never told him what exactly was wrong with her. This of course made him worry a lot more than he did before which in turn made him even angrier.

He wanted to go look for her but he couldn't get out of bed without any help he settled for yelling at everybody every time someone came in, whether it was a nurse, his doctor or his friends and family, asking to tell him anything about the physical therapist.

He was pissed the whole day and it wasn't until that night that he finally settled down a little thanks to Kaede, who hadn't had time to visit until then.

However, his mood worsened once again after she'd told him why everyone was trying to avoid talking about Kagome.

"In order for you understand what she did you have to let me explain and not interrupt me," she told him calmly but sternly.

Kaede was one of the few people he trusted with his life. She had, after all, looked after him for years. Besides, if she was really serious, like now for instance, he would always listen to her, even if she hadn't asked so he just nodded.

"Kagome is one of a kind," she continued. "Inuyasha, it has been a long time since I've met someone as selfless as her. However, what she did was not the cleverest thing she ever did, I'm sure. What I'm about to tell you comes from what Sesshomaru had told me that happened that night at the restaurant and what I had witnessed myself here while we were healing you."

She paused before telling him how after he turned youkai he fought Kouga, Sessh, Miroku and Shippou while the girls kept innocent bystanders at a safe distance. Only Kagome refused to leave him while they waited on Shiori who had gone to his house to get the Tessaiga. She was able to subdue his demon thanks to the beads of subjugation that Kaede had given her just that morning in case of an emergency.

She then used her reiki to temporarily stop the bleeding of his wounds until the paramedics arrived on scene. Sesshomaru had to threaten the EMTs to let her ride with him to the clinic and she had started purifying the miasma on the way.

When they arrived at the clinic Dr. Suikotsu and his staff immediately took over for the paramedics. When Kaede arrived she found herself almost immediately next to Kagome working on purifying the poison. Soon Kagome left to take care of a large gash on her right arm, it seemed like she had bled out a lot but she looked and she said she felt fine so no one questioned her anymore and focused on him instead.

They were all so busy working on healing him that they hadn't noticed when Kagome had started using her own energy instead of the energy around her like was usually done when performing reiki. Apparently she used a spell to hide how much it was affecting her body, especially after bleeding a lot. Otherwise Kaede would have been the first to notice.

The clinic had a special place where Kagome and other care givers with spiritual powers could work on their patients. It was a large greenhouse located at the back of the establishment. It was easier to extract energy out of living organisms like plants than in a room where everything was manmade.

Even Kaede had trouble extracting the energy around them in the OR but eventually she was able to. She guessed it was then that Kagome had opted to extract her own energy while Kaede used what she could gather in the OR without extracting that of the doctors and nurses in the room.

Luckily it had worked but it came with a price. When he had been transferred to the ICU Dr. Suikotsu finally noticed how unwell she looked and caught her right when she passed out. They quickly worked on her as well, even Kaede, who had discovered what she had done when she noticed her spiritual energy was dangerously low.

She had woken up a several times a day for the first two days but she went back to sleep every time after less than an hour after waking up. The day he woke up she had stayed awake the longest. She woke up a few hours before he did and had spent her time in his room waiting for him to wake up. After his doctor came to see him she went back to her room to rest only to sleep for almost thirty hours and waking up two or three times but again only for a few minutes at a time.

Doctors suspected it was because she had recovered enough energy the first few days to be able to get out of bed on Monday yet she overdid it once again by forcing herself to stay by his side. Since then she'd been put on bed rest while they kept a constant eye on her because she had a tendency to put others needs before her own, even if it meant hurting herself in the process.

At first he was speechless, he couldn't believe she would do all that for him. And then he was angry once again. He was angry at his friends and family for not telling him what had happened to her. He was angry at Kagome for putting her health at risk for his sake without even thinking of the consequences.

But he was mostly angry with himself for being paralyzed in the first place. If he hadn't been then he could've protected her better and he wouldn't have gotten hurt like he had been, which meant she wouldn't have had to overdo it and try and save him. But then again if he wasn't paralyzed he wouldn't have met her either.

Ever since that night he spoke to Kaede he'd been confused. He'd known Kagome for over a week (though he'd missed about half of it being unconscious and all) yet he had somehow come to care about her already. He didn't understand how, though, he'd never cared for anyone after knowing them for such a short period of time before.

He hated worrying and now he found himself worrying about a woman that he barely knew yet she somehow understood him in ways neither his closest friends nor his family did. Maybe that's why he found himself caring about her, ever since he met her he didn't feel all that lonely. Finally, he thought, he found someone whom he could trust unconditionally. Hell, they'd already proven they would give up their life for each other. This thought, though, both scared and excited him.

It was now Monday and he still hadn't seen her yet, he tried to go visit her at the clinic but was not allowed to leave his room unless it was for physical therapy, which he still refused to start. This had his mother and his sister very worried but every day he regained more feeling (and more pain) in his legs while his back luckily hurt less. That meant that he was recovering anyway and even this tiny bit was enough to make him wait for the raven haired woman to finish her recovery.

He sighed and looked at the time, it was 12.23 in the afternoon. He supposed he should get up and go do something productive, but he didn't really feel like getting out of bed. He found it strange that his sister hadn't tried getting him out of bed already.

He just lay there staring into space for who knows how long when suddenly his door flew open, startling the hell out of him. He sat up quickly and started yelling.

"What the…," he trailed off, eyes wide open at the person standing in his doorway.

"Is this the welcome I get, Dogboy?" she smirked, one hand placed firmly on her waist and leaning on the doorway.

Inuyasha was stunned for a moment. There stood Kagome looking better than she ever did before. She was wearing tight work-out clothes, her now shorter hair was held in a tiny but cute pony tail and her eyes! He'd never seen such fire in anyone's eyes before and were the brightest blue he'd ever seen. He couldn't deny to himself that he'd never seen anything hotter than that.

"What?" he asked stupidly.

Although Kagome seemed composed on the outside she was starting to feel butterflies in the pit of her stomach and she was suddenly feeling a little warm (weird considering there was air-conditioning throughout the house). When Inuyasha sat up she got a front row show of his spectacular bare chest and she could honestly say that the sight alone made her burn inside. She was thankful that she was leaning on the doorway, otherwise she might have fallen to the ground with how jelly her legs were starting to feel (and she wasn't even standing close to him).

Kagome shook her head mentally and sighed dramatically, "what am I going to do with you, huh?"

"What are you doing here?" he asked first before his eyes widened once again. "Are you okay? Kaede told me what happened," he asked concerned that she might still not have recovered completely.

She walked to his bedside smiling and rolling her eyes, trying to make nothing of the whole situation. "May I sit?" she asked him, pointing at the bed. He responded by making some space for her so she could take a seat. "I'm fine, Inuyasha," she told him looking him in the eyes, "but thanks for asking. I should be asking you, though. So how are you doing?"

"Feh, I'm fine, wench. In fact, I've been feeling more pain in the lower half of my body," he said excitedly.

Her eyes widened and she smiled widely. "Really? That's great! But why didn't Dr. Suikotsu tell me this morning?"

"Uh, well…," he hesitated, "he doesn't know yet."

She raised her eyebrows, "Come again?"

The hanyou sighed, "I haven't told him yet, I wanted to tell you first but I wasn't allowed to see you at the clinic and you never came to visit me anymore either…," he trailed off.

"You waited a whole week to tell me you've regained more feeling in your legs?" he nodded embarrassedly. "That's really sweet of you, Inuyasha, stupid but sweet." She chuckled and he scowled at her.

"Yeah, well, don't think it'll happen again, wench. I ain't sweet!"

"Whatever you say, Dogboy. So tell me, how are your therapy sessions going?"

"You don't know? I thought you spoke to Dr. Suikotsu this morning."

"Know what?" she frowned, she had a feeling the doctor had left out a few things in their conversation. But then again, the doctor was busy this morning so they only talked for a moment.

"I've been waiting for you to recover to start my rehab again."

"You did what? Are you crazy? Why would you do that?"

"You promised we would do this together and I trust you so I don't want any other physical therapist."

She chuckled and shook her head, "and you said you weren't sweet." When she saw him open his mouth to argue she quickly added, "but thank you for trusting me, it means a lot coming from you."

Inuyasha sighed, "Just promise me you won't try to kill yourself again trying to save me. I'm not worth it."

"You know Inuyasha, all this self-pity has got to stop. Whoever told you you weren't worth anything was wrong, only you can decide that. Don't listen to what everybody says, do what makes _you_ feel right because it's _your_ life and nobody has any right to tell you what to feel or how to live it."

As she was saying this he was mesmerized by the fire burning in her eyes again, telling him that she meant every word she said.

"Thanks," he smiled meekly.

"So…how come you're still in bed, lazy boy?"

"Uhh," he opened and closed his mouth several times trying to come up with an excuse.

Sighing she said, "You know what? I don't wanna hear any excuses. So go take a shower, I'll fix you something to eat so that we can start your sessions afterwards. There's so much to do and we're wasting time here."

She got up and moved to the door and saw that he hadn't moved an inch yet. "Get moving already, it's almost one o'clock. You're not allowed to enter the studio until you've done your therapy session today and I know you want to work on your music so just hurry up."

With that she left, closing the door behind her. He sighed but cracked another smile. What was she doing to him? If he kept smiling people were going to start to think he was happy.

He quickly got out of bed and got ready, all the time trying but failing not to think about the beautiful physical therapist.

He knew he shouldn't though, not after what he went through with Kikyou. He feared using Kagome as a rebound girl, that was the last thing he wanted. He trusted and respected her too much to treat her that way so he made a resolve to keep things platonic while buying time to figure out if he wanted something more or not.

He didn't put on his shirt yet, the wounds on his back needed to be cleaned. He took what he needed, washcloth, towel, mild soap, anti-bacterial ointment, new bandages and a t-shirt and made his way downstairs.

"Where's Shiori?" he asked Kagome when he arrived in the kitchen.

"I think she said she needed to speak to your brother so she's not here. Why?" she asked while putting the last of their lunch on the kitchen table.

"Well, she usually cleans my stitches for me. Would you mind doing it instead?"

"Sure, no problem. Let's just eat first."

After eating and cleaning his wounds they made their way to the gym to start the rehab sessions. Today Kagome only tested how much pain he had, how much he could tolerate and see how much he could move his legs voluntarily. He couldn't really move yet, it hurt too much but she said it was normal and that it could take some time before he'd be able to move without pain.

After about an hour she decided it was enough for the day and told him to get cleaned up. She made some notes so that she and Dr. Suikotsu could better determine the course of his rehabilitation.

The butterflies in her stomach she had felt earlier had now turned into knots and she was glad she was wearing her work-out clothes. She could exercise to release all the pent up emotions, she couldn't feel those things for anybody, least of all a patient, albeit a very hot patient.

She worked out for an hour non-stop before making her way to her room to take a shower. Forty-five minutes later she found Inuyasha in the recording studio, no surprise there.

Unknown to Kagome, the hanyou was also trying to cope with the same feelings and had her scent not been all over the gym after the therapy session he would have worked out too but had opted for another way of releasing everything he'd been trying to suppress, making music.

He'd been working on a new song when he suddenly heard her beautiful (not that he'd ever admit it) voice again.

"God, Dogboy. I leave you alone for a few days and you're already writing crappy songs?"

She was leaning by the door with a smirk on her face and her arms folded in front of her chest. He smirked in return. She was wearing dark wash jeans with a white tank top, an unbuttoned black and white plaid shirt and was barefoot. Now that she had her hair down he could finally see how short it was. It was shoulder length and cut in layers and she was now sporting a cute side bang as well.

He found it great that she felt comfortable enough around him to not care about how she looked in front of him. Most girls he had met would dress up and use lots of make-up to try to get his attention but it was refreshing to know Kagome was confident enough to know she didn't need any of that to enhance her beauty. Hell, she wasn't even wearing any make-up right now and she looked great.

"Feh, this song ain't crappy, wench. And don't call me Dogboy."

"Oh, come on. It sucks and you know it."

"Keh," was his only response.

He carefully put his guitar down and wheeled himself to the door. He needed a break. She was right, the song did suck and he didn't want to even attempt to fix it anymore.

They soon found themselves in the kitchen. Kagome started to get some stuff out to make dinner when he interrupted her.

"What are you doing, wench?"

She had been bending down, trying to find a few pots to cook. He almost had a nosebleed at the side of her bending over. She looked at him curiously before standing back up.

"I'm trying to make dinner, what did you think I was doing? And don't call me wench."

"We just got out of the hospital, Kagome. I'll just order us something." She frowned.

"You know, you eat too much take out. And since we're already on this subject, I think it would be best for you to get a cook. I mean, I don't really mind cooking for us but when we finally start making progress with your rehab I won't have much time to cook and you should be eating healthier food anyway rather than take out."

"I'll eat whatever the hell I want, wench. I'm not a weak human so eating unhealthy doesn't affect me as much."

"That's just nonsense and you know it. A healthy diet will increase the rate at which you will recover whether you're human, youkai or hanyou. It's been scientifically proven so whatever you say won't change the fact that you _will_ start eating healthier whether you like it or not."

"You can't make me wench!"

Kagome sighed. "Fine, how about we make a deal? Besides dieting, having a good work-out routine is also essential. Since you're a hanyou I know your metabolism is very high so I'll monitor your diet for a month with your normal work out routine. If there are any complications we'll just adjust your diet and/or exercises. The deal I want to make is to have you stick to the diet and exercise routine for a month. In return you can then have one cheat day a week for the next month. Of course, it has to be in moderation, you can't go waste all the effort you've put into the diet beforehand. And on those cheat days you have to exercise an extra hour so that you can burn all those extra calories you'll be consuming. If you stick to that for another month you may have two cheat days a week but that's as many as you'll get 'cause otherwise it wouldn't be worth dieting."

"Make it a week instead of a month and we have a deal," he smiled charmingly, thinking there was no way she could resist his charm and would agree instantly.

"One month," she said blankly.

'Damn. She didn't even budge,' he thought to himself. "Alright, two weeks then," he doubled his efforts.

"One month."

'Fuck! How the hell can she resist me?' "How about three weeks?" he asked almost pleadingly.

"One month."

'God damn it!' he swore silently. "Okay, four weeks and that's my final offer."

"One month."

"A month is four weeks wench," he said exasperatedly.

"A month is a little over four weeks, Dogboy. Either you take the deal or you won't get any cheat days at all."

"Okay, okay," he gave in reluctantly.

"You have to promise. You should know that I don't take promises lightly and I'm sure neither do you so if we're going to make this deal we're going to do it right."

He sighed before scowling at her. "I promise," he muttered just loud enough for her to hear. "Geez, why are you being such a bitch about it? It's just a stupid diet."

She let the insult slide, thinking he didn't really mean it, it was just the way he is. "I'm just doing this so you can recover faster. Inuyasha, isn't that what you want?"

"Of course it is but not at the expense of eating delicious food."

"For your information healthy food can also be delicious. Anyway, I'll have to call Dr. Suikotsu and our dietitian to put together a diet for you. Until then I'll give you the chance to indulge in your unhealthy diet…Well, except for the ramen, I threw them all away," she said the last part smiling mischievously.

"You did WHAT?" he asked incredulously. "Why would you throw away good ramen?"

"It's unhealthy," she shrugged.

"Who the fuck cares? It's my ramen and you had no right throwing them away!" he yelled.

Sighing and rolling her eyes she said, "geez, can't you take a joke? Your ramen is safe, I just stashed it somewhere you won't find it easily. But enough about that, do you want me to make us some food or do you want to order something?"

"I want my ramen! All of them!"

"How about I let you have two cups of ramen today? I think that's generous, don't you?" she said with a innocent face but was laughing on the inside. It was fun to tease the hanyou.

"The hell you will. You'll give me all of them. Right now."

"Are the guys coming over today, by the way? I forgot to ask Shiori earlier," she asked, ignoring his request.

"Wench! Don't ignore me." He couldn't believe it, the woman was insufferable.

Kagome sighed, she decided she didn't want to know yet how far he would tolerate her teasing. There was always tomorrow, though. "Alright, fine. They're in the cabinet, they've been there the entire time."

"What?" he exclaimed and quickly made his way to said cabinet to see if she wasn't pulling his leg. "You almost give me a heart attack for nothing, wench!" he told her angrily after seeing his ramen stash, right where he'd left them.

"Overreacting much?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Keh! They better stay there too."

"Only if you stick to your diet. If I find even one single ramen cup missing I'll get rid of all of them."

"You can't do that, wench!"

"Yes, I can. We made a deal didn't we? And I don't think you're the type of man to go back on your word."

"Feh. You planned this, didn't you?"

Her only response was a wicked grin.

"You still didn't answer my earlier question. Are the guys coming over today?"

"Shit, I totally forgot about that. I asked them to come by tonight instead of this afternoon but I'm still not really in the mood to see any of them today."

"How can you say that? They're your friends, they care about you."

"I know they do and that's the problem. The girls are constantly asking me how I'm doing while trying to tend to me like I'm an invalid and the guys are doing everything they can to keep me busy… Hell, they weren't this bad after the accident itself and they're getting on my nerves already. I'm not known for my patience but I've done all that I can to keep myself from strangling them. I just don't know if I have any more patience left."

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to fix things before you create a bloodbath." She took out her phone and called Sango, who picked up after the third ring.

"Hey, Kagome. What's up?"

"Hey, Sango. I'm good, I'm with Inuyasha right now."

"Is everything alright? The girls are with me, let me call the guys and we can be there in ten minutes," she said frantically.

Kagome raised an eyebrow and looked at Inuyasha who had been listening in thanks to his sensitive hearing. He rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"No, Sango. Everything's fine," she stressed the last words to calm down the brown haired girl.

"Are you sure? Why did you call then?"

"Listen, I know you guys are supposed to come by today but I decided to take Inuyasha out tonight."

"Where are you going? We've all pretty much cleared our schedules, not that our band really had one anymore, though, being fired and all."

"Well, I was thinking about making it a party of two. I think Dogboy's in serious need of inspiration. I caught him earlier working on this song," she sighed dramatically, "I don't even know where to begin to describe what was wrong with it. But in any case, I know just the thing that will inspire him."

"Just the two of you? Like on a date?"

Both Kagome and Inuyasha blushed lightly.

"Well, there's no doubt what a great catch he is," she winked at him while looking straight into his mischievous eyes, "but I'm not allowed to date a patient, it's a personal and ethical rule that I have never and will never break."

"You know, rules are meant to be broken. The girls and I think you two could really hit it off."

"It's not gonna happen, Sango. No matter what you say. Anyway, I gotta go get ready to leave. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"Alright, but if anything happens, call me. Bye."

After hanging up Kagome quickly sent two text messages and told Inuyasha to go change into something comfortable.

Twenty minutes later Inuyasha came down wearing blue jeans, gray t-shirt, red plaid shirt, dark gray converse and matching beanie.

Kagome was wearing the same thing but added a black leather jacket, black converse and white beanie on her now slightly curled hair.

"Copycat," laughed Kagome.

The hanyou smirked. "Well, we make a good matching couple, don't we?" He started making his way to the garage with Kagome following him.

"Good? We make a great couple!" she kept pretending, at least she hoped he was.

"Keh, we actually do look good together though." Inuyasha's eyes widened a slightly and he flushed a little, he hadn't really meant to say that out loud.

"Maybe," she shrugged. "But like I said, I have rules and I stick to them so no matter how good we look together it's not gonna happen. Besides, I'm not the rebound type of girl."

"I agree, you're too good to be a rebound girl," they got into Kagome's car (this time she had the sense to take her car to his house). He continued when she drove out the garage. "To be honest I don't wanna get involved with anyone, at least not for a while…I can't believe I actually trusted her, if I wasn't so horny when I met her I probably wouldn't have gotten involved with her. I knew she was too refined for me, way out of my league but I guess that encouraged me more, to prove to myself that I was able to get a girl like her. I think she used the fact that I'm a hanyou to her advantage. Us canine youkai or hanyou love a chase and she gave me one hell of a chase too. I just wish I would've had more sense back then, it would've saved me a lot of trouble."

"I guess all you can do now is to be thankful to be alive today and enjoy every single day as if it was your last. You're lucky to have cheated death this many times in so little time but you never know what can happen tomorrow."

"You're right, and I am thankful, especially for meeting you. We barely know each other but I can honestly say that I consider you a friend."

Kagome smiled, "the feeling's mutual, Dogboy."

He growled playfully and gently shoved, he didn't want to cause an accident.

They listened to the radio for a while, both singing badly just for fun. They even made fun of one of Demonic's songs, _Something in your mouth_, that they happened to play on the radio. It was obvious that Miroku wrote the song. Inuyasha told her Miroku had recorded his own version as well just for fun and he would let her listen to it when they got back to the house.

"Why did you cut your hair?" he asked suddenly.

"Uh, let's just say I had an interesting run-in with a sharp object and I lost a good chunk of hair and in order to not look ridiculous I had to cut the rest of my hair."

"What sharp object?"

"It doesn't really matter, Inuyasha."

"It was me, wasn't it?"

She sighed. "Yeah, but I don't want you to feel guilty. Besides I actually like my hair this short and I love my new bangs otherwise I would've used a spell to make my hair seem longer."

"You can do that?"

"Of course, I _am_ one of the strongest miko alive, you know?"

"Feh, whatever… And I'm sorry about slicing your hair away but you don't look half bad now so it's okay, right?"

"You know, when you decide to give someone a compliment I recommend you either commit to it and mean it or don't say anything at all. When you hesitate you might end up insulting instead of complimenting that person."

"What part of what I said was insulting?" he pretended not to understand.

She just shoved him in response.

"So where are we going?" he asked a few minutes later.

"It's a surprise," she winked.

"I hate surprises, just tell me where we're going."

"Oh, trust me, you'll love this one. You're just gonna have to sit tight and wait."

The rest of the ride Inuyasha kept trying to get her to tell him without any success.

When they arrived he saw they were in a nice upper middle class neighborhood, in front of a nice two story house.

Kagome got out of the car and went to Inuyasha's side and asked if he needed any help. He declined her help politely, which the physical therapist thought was great progress, he expected him to be more rude. But she wisely kept it to herself.

When he was comfortable in his wheelchair he made his way to the house and saw there was a ramp for wheelchairs. He wondered why the people living there would have one but shrugged it off almost instantly 'cause he was probably going to find out soon anyway.

Kagome lead him to the front door and waited for him to stand directly in front of it before ringing the bell.

After what seemed like an eternity for the hanyou but was merely a few moments the door was finally opened. Kagome, who'd been watching him to gauge his reaction, almost burst with excitement when she saw his shocked reaction at the person standing in front of the hanyou.

"Hello there, you must be Inuyasha. Kagome's told me so much about you."

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed that. For those who don't know the song _Something in your mouth_, it's by Nickelback. I can totally see Miroku singing it :P.**

**Anyways, I don't really have much to say, just review and tell me what you thought of this chapter.**

**Till next time,**

**JJ**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 13**

"Hello there, you must be Inuyasha. Kagome's told me so much about you," said a man in his mid to late forties, short salt and pepper hair and standing with a cane while holding the door open.

Inuyasha could hardly believe his eyes. The person standing in front of him was none other than Ken Higurashi, one of his favorite musicians of all time.

He was a hero to the hanyou, he had, after all, inspired him to become a musician.

"Uh…H-hi," he stuttered, he was so star struck he didn't really know what else to say at the moment.

Kagome looked at him funny but decided not to prolong his embarrassment any longer and flicked his ear. He instantly looked at her, a scowl present on his face. She only smiled at him.

"Inuyasha, this is my father, Ken Higurashi. Dad, this is Inuyasha Takahashi."

Ken laughed at his still semi star struck face, stuck his hand out and said, "Nice to meet you son. Well, don't just sit there. Come on in." He moved aside to let them in.

"Hi, Daddy. How are you doing?" greeted Kagome with a hug and a kiss.

"I just saw you this morning, baby girl. Not much can go wrong in so little time," he said, closing the front door.

She only gave him a knowing look, they both knew all too well how quickly things can change, and not necessarily for the better.

Her father just rolled his eyes at her and led Inuyasha to the family room while she went to the kitchen to get her mom.

Their family room was very spacious, easily accessible for people in wheelchairs. Ken stood nearby the recliner while Inuyasha looked around the stylish yet cozy room. There was hardwood floor, a carpet in the middle with a coffee table on top. The furniture was a complete set in the color white but decorated tastefully with throw pillows matching the taupe walls. There was one partial white brick wall where two big vertical picture frames hung, one depicting a sunrise, the other a sunset.

Two other walls had built in shelves and were decorated with a few potted plants and a lot of family pictures. Looking at them he thought Kagome was pretty cute as a kid. He'd never say it out loud, though, he didn't want people to think he was going soft.

He remembered Kagome telling him she had a little brother and guessed that was the other kid in the pictures. He looked a lot like his sister and they both looked a lot like the woman who appeared in most pictures, most likely their mother.

Ken noticed he was really interested in the pictures so he told him a little bit about how, when and where they were taken. He realized the more he spoke to the hanyou the less star struck he seemed to get. From what he'd heard about him from the media (not that he believed everything they reported, he knew better) he expected a more cocky personality from the hanyou. But he knew from experience that his accident a couple months ago must have changed him and probably last week's incident as well.

"I hope for your sake, Dad, that you're not telling him any embarrassing stories about me," Kagome warned, entering the family room with an older version of the miko but with a pixie haircut following her.

"Now, why would I do that?" asked her father, pretending to look innocently but failing badly.

She rolled her eyes then looked at Inuyasha, "Inuyasha, this is my Mom, Emiko. Mom, this is Inuyasha Takahashi," she introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, Inuyasha," she shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too. You have a lovely home, Mrs. Higurashi."

"Thank you, dear. But please, call me Emiko." Inuyasha smiled and nodded in response. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but those are the cutest ears I have ever seen," she smiled, looking at his twitching ears.

Inuyasha blushed and looked at Kagome who giggled. He scowled at her. "It's not funny, wench."

At this Kagome started outright laughing while her parents looked as if they were missing something.

"It is funny, Inuyasha," she said after she got her laughter under control. "'Cause when we met it took a _lot_ to restrain myself from touching your ears. They are just too adorable," she giggled again.

"Keh, my ears are neither cute nor adorable, wench. Their manly," he huffed.

"Whatever you say, Dogboy. And don't call me wench."

"Then don't call me Dogboy."

"So Kagome," Ken interrupted before they could further argue, "is Souta coming too?"

"Yeah, I texted him earlier and he told me they were just finishing band practice so he should be on his way."

"Good, we can wait for him before we have dinner then," said Emiko. "Can I offer you something to drink, Inuyasha?"

"Just water, please." She nodded and went to the kitchen to bring everyone refreshments.

"I'll go help Mom. Behave," she warned before leaving the room.

Both men looked at each other confused.

"I meant both of you," Kagome called from afar.

"How did she know?" asked the hanyou.

"She could tell we were confused, didn't she tell you she's an empath?"

"Oh yeah, she did. I forgot."

"So, how is your mother doing? Has she gotten her cast off already?"

"You know my mother?"

"Yeah, I've known your parents for years now. Izayoi was the one who introduced me to Emiko."

"Really? I didn't know that. She got her cast off last Friday but she's taking things easy now, it hurts to walk so she's still using her cane until her leg's strong enough."

"That's good to hear. I think I'll have Emiko call her tomorrow to see when we can visit, I'm sure they would love that. They were good friends back then but a lot of things happened with both our families and we haven't seen your parents in a long time until Izayoi came to pick Kagome up almost two weeks ago."

"I guess it's the price we pay to be able to do what we do for a living, we're always in the spotlight, there's always someone watching."

"That was one of the reasons I gave up my career. After the shooting I had a lot of time to think and I realized that even though in my heart my first priority was my family, in reality, I spent more time touring, promoting or working on our albums than with them. And in just one instant I almost lost everything."

"At least you had priorities then, I've only just begun to realize how screwed up my live has been the last couple of years. Now I'm just trying to figure out day by day what I want and trying to decide if they're worth it." He didn't know why he was spilling his guts to a man he just met, but then again this man would understand him better than anyone having gone through almost the same thing as him. And it felt good to get it off his chest.

"Well, you're still young, even for a hanyou, so you still have a lot of time to figure things out. Just once you know what you want don't give up on them. Give everything you've got to accomplish what you set out to accomplish. I'm sure it won't be easy but I can promise you once you've got everything you wanted it will all be worth it."

Inuyasha gave him a little smile in return. The former musician had no idea how much his advice meant to him. It was the sort of advice a father gave to his son and for years now he'd been lacking that. This made him think about his father but he quickly pushed those thoughts aside, it was neither the time nor the place to start thinking about the past.

"So, I've been dying to ask. How did you just disappear like that?"

Ken chuckled, "It wasn't easy, kid. It's good to have good connections. These people helped me find a good house in a nice neighborhood, where few people knew or didn't care who I was. And even though Kagome's empathy is usually a nuisance for her it helped us greatly knowing what sort of people lived in each neighborhood we looked at."

"Are you guys talking about me again?" asked the young raven haired woman.

"Of course, what else is there to talk about? Besides, I'll do anything to gather blackmail material," Inuyasha grinned wickedly.

She glared playfully at him before putting the drinks on the coffee table. If he hadn't been grinning, the glint in his eyes was more than enough to tell her he was only teasing. They talked for about five minutes when they heard a car arrive at the house.

"Oh, he's here," the miko exclaimed. "Let me get my camera," Kagome quickly looked through her purse but didn't find it so she settled for using her Iphone instead.

"What for?" asked Inuyasha.

"Blackmail material," she smiled mischievously.

Inuyasha didn't understand why but thought he would find out soon enough. The front door opened just as Kagome found a place in the room where she could get everyone on film, especially the hanyou and her little brother.

"Kagome," Souta yelled from the foyer.

"In the family room," she yelled back.

"Alright, I'm here," he said walking to the room. "Now what the hell was so important for me to rush ho-," he trailed off when he entered the room and saw none other than his favorite musician sitting next to his father.

Everyone quietly watched his reaction. He was standing still, almost frozen in the doorway, one leg in front of the other, with eyes wide open and his mouth gaping.

The sound of a giggle snapped him out of his thoughts and his eyes quickly found those belonging to his sister, filled with mirth. At the same time he noticed she had her phone in her hand, probably filming. He glared at her before he lunged for her.

"Kagome! Turn that fucking thing off!" he yelled.

"No way!" Kagome laughed and moved swiftly so he couldn't catch her. "What's the fun in that?"

"Give me that!" He lunged for her once again, this time bringing them both down where they wrestled a little before he triumphantly yelled, "Aha! I win, Gummy Bear!" He quickly deleted it and handed Kagome her phone back. "It was nice doing business with you."

"Eh," she shrugged, "that's okay, I already sent it to someone so you deleted it for nothing," she smiled brightly.

"What? How could you do this to me? Who did you send it to? Tell them to delete it!"

"Chill out, alright? It's not the end of the world. Besides, I sent it to a friend."

"How do you know they won't post it online? Do you know how embarrassing this is?"

"I just do. Just trust me, okay?"

He only huffed in response. He turned and he saw his parents and Inuyasha staring at him with laughter in their eyes and trying to hold a straight face.

He glared at his dad, mostly because he loved his mother too much to glare at her and he didn't want to glare at his idol. Ken couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing and the others followed.

"It's not funny!" he couldn't believe he yelled that. He must have sounded so petulant.

Although Kagome liked to tease her little brother she didn't want to embarrass him any more in front of the hanyou, he was already looking a little mortified.

"Alright, alright, that's enough. Inuyasha," she hugged her brother sideways, "this is our little munchkin, Souta. Souta, this is Dogboy. He's my patient."

Neither guys appreciated their nicknames. But she was in too good a mood to let their glares affect her.

"Don't call me Dogboy, wench," he told her, glaring at his physical therapist for a moment. Turning his attention to the youngest person in the room he said, "Hey, nice to meet you."

"You have no idea."

Inuyasha chuckled but didn't say anything. This kid was just as star struck as he had been earlier and he didn't really want him to know that.

Nobody said anything for a moment until Mrs. Higurashi spoke up.

"Well then, now that the introductions are done, how about some food. Kagome, would you help me in the kitchen? The rest of you can get settled at the dining table."

They had a pleasant dinner, this time there were no awkward silent moments. The guys talked about music while Kagome told her mother more about her new friends.

Emiko was happy her daughter finally found friends in LA. She never had friends for long. Growing up most kids befriended her because of her father and wanted to meet the famous rock star. Her first genuine friends were Eri, Yuka and Ayumi. She met them when living in Japan for a year and still talks to them from time to time.

Emiko hated that her daughter was forced to grow up too soon, they used to live in a whole different world where people judge you by who you are, what you do and how much money you make instead of people's personalities. She didn't blame her daughter for wanting a normal life and after the shooting they all agreed it was for the best. They all preferred to live a safe and carefree life out of the spotlight.

Although Kagome never told her mother, she had a feeling that after she came back to LA Kagome and her friends were growing apart. Japan was, after all, very different from the United States and all their different experiences caused Kagome to be much more mature than them.

Her friends loved talking about fashion, boys and the hottest celebrities while Kagome was more into her spiritual powers, her career and her family. Now they only talked on special occasions like holidays and birthdays.

But by the way Kagome talked about Sango, Rin and Ayame she knew they would be very good friends. They had a lot in common, and although Kagome hadn't told her what exactly, they had all gone through something tragic in their lives that made them mature at an early age.

And even though it was awful that they had to go through what they did she was so glad her daughter had found people who understood her, friends who would not let her down, that would be there for her just like she would for them. This was a rare kind of friendship that one should always cherish.

"So when do I get to see the girls again? I haven't seen them since you left the clinic," Emiko asked her daughter.

"Well, if you're okay with it I could invite them to Sunday brunch. They're gonna freak when they see Dad though," she grinned.

"Sweetheart," Emiko called her husband, "what do you think about inviting Kagome's new friends for brunch this Sunday?"

He smiled, "sure, I'd love to meet them."

"Oh, the guys are gonna be so jealous when they hear about this," said Inuyasha.

"Hmm, true. I guess we could invite them too, though it would be a little crowded," Kagome said thoughtfully.

"Not to mention they're all famous, so it would be a little difficult to hide all of them from our neighbors. I know they wouldn't tip off the paparazzi but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't come knocking on our door to check them out themselves," said Ken.

"We could do it at my house then, my dining room is big enough to fit everyone," said Inuyasha.

"Oh no, dear. I wouldn't want to impose on you like that," Emiko told him.

"Mrs. Hig… I mean, Emiko, it's really no trouble at all."

"What do you say Ken?" she asked her husband.

"Sure, why not?" he shrugged with a smile.

Souta, who had been silently watching them discuss, frowned. "Who are you guys talking about?"

Everyone looked at him puzzled while he looked at them expectantly.

"The guys and girls from Demonic and Shikon Girls," Kagome told him as if it were obvious.

Souta's eyes bulged. "Holy…you know them?"

Kagome looked at him confused. "Of course I know them, they were practically every day at Inuyasha's house and at the clinic. They're all good friends."

"And when did you plan on telling me this? In the next millennium?"

"Hehe…Oops, must've slipped my mind what with everything that went on since I started working with Inuyasha, I probably just forgot to mention it."

"You also missed them at the clinic," said Emiko. "Since Inuyasha was also there they visited her quite often."

Souta ran his hand over his face and sighed. He missed so much in the last two weeks.

"Oh, stop being such a baby, Squirt," Kagome told him, "you'll meet them this Sunday for sure. Just try not to freak out like you did tonight."

He glared at her. "Don't call me squirt! I'm almost twenty-two years old! I outgrew that name a long time ago. Hell I outgrew _you_ since I turned sixteen and you still call me that."

"I know, but you've been shorter than me more than half your life so I found it appropriate. And now I call you that just 'cause you're fun to annoy," she told him with a bright smile.

"Something's not right with you," he told her shaking his head but she didn't reply.

Inuyasha on the other hand almost did, thinking that Souta was probably right.

"So, Inuyasha, you guys working on your next album yet or are things on hold?" Souta asked.

"Actually we're taking our time this time, with everything that happened and with my rehab we didn't have much time to work on it. I did work on one of Kagome's songs last week, though."

Souta's eyebrows shot up. "Seriously?" he asked his sister. "I thought you didn't want to get into the music business."

"I still don't. I lent Inuyasha my notebook and he looked at my poems when I wasn't looking. He was apparently inspired by one of them and just wrote the whole music to the lyrics," she explained like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Really? Can I hear it?" he asked excitedly.

"Sure," Inuyasha answered before Kagome could refuse. He could see she didn't really want to, he didn't know why but he felt like annoying her.

Kagome sighed but agreed anyway. Kagome's parents cleared the table while they went to the music room.

"Well, since we don't have our guitars with us we're gonna have to use my Dad's. So take a pick," she told Inuyasha, motioning to the two rows of guitars.

The hanyou's eyes widened before an expression of utter glee appeared on his face. He wheeled himself to the guitars and Souta told him all about them, how his father had gotten them, what made them famous etc.

By the time Emiko and Ken appeared in the music room both he and Kagome had chosen an acoustic guitar.

They tuned both guitars and Inuyasha took a guitar pick out of his pocket. After making sure that Kagome was also ready he started playing.

_The burning desire to live and roam free  
It shines in the dark and it grows within me…_

There was a moment of silence after she sang the last word before all three Higurashi's started clapping.

"Wow!" Souta exclaimed. "That was awesome, I didn't know you could write that well, Gummy Bear."

"Well, you know me, Squirt. I'm full of surprises," she replied dryly.

"That was great guys," Ken complimented.

Kagome smiled brightly while Inuyasha tried hard not to smile just as bright, he was so ecstatic to receive a compliment from his idol.

They spent a couple hours more in the music room playing and singing and having fun while doing it before it was time for the miko and the hanyou to leave but not before making more concrete plans for Sunday brunch.

Inuyasha was in such a good mood, he even let Kagome help him dismantling his wheelchair and putting it in the backs seat. He had a seemingly permanent grin and was radiating such happiness that Kagome couldn't help basking in it.

The drive back to Inuyasha's house seemed a lot shorter than earlier but then again there was also less traffic. They spent the entire time talking about their time with her family.

For a moment Inuyasha wished to have been able to grow up with such a family but that didn't mean he didn't love his own. Things just have never been like they were in Kagome's family. His mother and sister were like most women, they adored the males in the family and doted on and admired them.

Sesshomaru and their father, however, were mostly busy with the family business and didn't have much time for family but tried their best to show everyone but him that they cared about them. His father hadn't always been that way, though. He used to spend a lot of time with him when he was little, that was until after Shiori was born, things have never been the same since then.

He quickly pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind, where they belonged, he told himself.

Kagome sensed the shift in his mood but didn't say anything. She sent him a concerned look but he pretended nothing was wrong and the miko took that as a sign that he didn't want to talk about it and thought it better to keep silent. He was probably like most guys, they need time to sort things out and if they needed to they'd talk.

Inuyasha stayed silent the rest of the way and Kagome put the radio on to fill the silence reigning in the car.

When they arrived home she reminded him to wake up early for his exercises. He only nodded and made his way up in the elevator.

* * *

Later that night, Kagome was sound asleep when she felt her back start to throb painfully. It took her a moment to remember she'd expanded her senses in case something happened and she was relieved that she did.

She hurriedly made her way to Inuyasha's room but was stopped by the locked door. She banged on the door and yelled that she would be in soon. She took a couple steps back before kicking the door next to the lock with the heel of her foot. She kicked as hard as she could but it still took too many kicks, in her opinion, for the door to finally break open.

She instantly made her way to the hanyou, leaping over the splinters on the floor. Inuyasha was lying on his back and was digging his claws into the mattress and gritting his teeth, trying his hardest to resist the pain and not to scream.

"Relax, Inuyasha," she said in the most soothing voice she could muster at the moment.

He looked at her scared before shutting his eyes again when another painful spasm hit him.

"Inuyasha, look at me," she took his face in her hands. "Open your eyes and look at me."

He did but didn't say anything, it took everything in him not to scream and he feared he would if he opened his mouth.

"Good. Now take a deep breath," she took a deep breath through her nose and he did the same, "and let it out. Good. I'll heal you as soon as you're more relaxed so just take a deep breath…and let it out."

When he relaxed enough to move he lifted his hand and pointed to the mini fridge in a corner that she hadn't noticed was there the first time she was in his room.

"Do you have ice packs in there?"

The hanyou only nodded before she went to get one. She put it on his nightstand before going to his ensuite and got a towel.

She helped him get off the bed and him onto the floor and put a pillow under his knees. She then wrapped the towel around the ice pack and then carefully put it under his lower back.

She moved to sit by his waist and put her hands on his body, one on his diaphragm and the other on his thigh. She took a deep cleansing breath before starting her examination.

It didn't take long to know what was wrong, somehow he had gotten miasma in his body again. However, this time it was different. It wasn't concentrated in one place like last time. This time he had it in his entire body, although a large part of the poison was still concentrated around his injury.

It was also a large enough dose to attack him from the inside all of a sudden but not enough to kill him.

She didn't have time to think about it any longer though. The sooner she purified it the sooner he'd be out of pain.

While she was healing him she kept reminding him to take deep breaths. It helped him calm down which helped easing the spasms faster.

She didn't know why he got spasms and such painful ones too. She guessed whoever made the poison made it to specifically target that part of his body, his back. However, that was all it was right now, a guess.

Now that she wasn't bleeding and making sure not to pass out she thought about things she didn't last time. First off, the person who was trying to hurt Inuyasha was very powerful and was very good. Whoever this was made sure not even she, a powerful miko, could trace wherever the poison came from.

Secondly, this was a smaller dose of miasma than last time but was more powerful than the one she had purified almost two weeks ago.

Thirdly, last time Inuyasha was poisoned gradually and its purpose was to paralyze him permanently. This time, it attacked the weakest part of his body, making his back spasm so painfully it was almost torturous.

And lastly, he must have gotten this recent dose in the last few hours because he was just fine when they went to bed. So either someone snuck in without both of them knowing, which was unlikely because their senses were very sharp, or he must've ingested it without either of them knowing it. However, she needed to know what he did before going to bed and if he'd sensed anything to try to figure out how this happened.

He heaved a sigh when he felt the last of the spasms leave. His back felt sore, a lot more than it had been after Kagome healed him at the clinic. He didn't even dare try to move his lower body right now, something he was eager to do when he realized last week that he had regained sensation in his legs.

After purifying the miasma and healing his back she looked at him and smiled tentatively.

"Thanks," he whispered.

"It's a good thing I'm an empath, that pain scared the shit out of me."

He lips turned slightly upwards though not enough to call a smile and turned to look around when his eyes settled on the broken door.

Kagome followed his eyes and her eyes widened.

"I'm sorry, I'll pay for it," she said embarrassedly. "Just next time don't lock your door…that is, unless you have company."

Inuyasha chuckled. "It's okay. I'm surprised you even managed to break the door open."

"I know," she said honestly, looking back at the door. "I just remember kicking and kicking until I got it open…I guess all those martial arts classes paid off," she smiled.

"You know martial arts?"

"Well, as a miko I thought it wise to know how to defend myself in every aspect. Some people would do anything to get my powers. I can keep most demons and dark spiritualists away with my powers but I didn't want to use my powers against normal humans. So I took some martial arts classes while I was in Japan and continued when I came back."

That was only part of her reasoning but she wasn't ready to tell him the real reason yet. Nobody besides her family knew.

"Smart. So I'm guessing you're very strong. I mean, you managed to break my door."

"I think that had more to do with adrenaline than my actual strength. I don't think I could do it again under normal circumstances…Where the hell is Shiori when you need superhuman strength, anyway?"

"I forgot to tell you, she texted me earlier to tell me she and the gang went out tonight since we were at your parents'."

"Oh okay. So…how do you feel?" she asked, knowing that now he'd most likely answer her than when he thanked her. She sensed he was still tense then but now was almost his usual self.

He sighed. "Better, that hurt like hell though. I don't understand what happened though. When I went to bed everything was fine."

"It was miasma," she told him looking straight in the eyes.

He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth to hold back the anger he wanted to express. He didn't want to lash out at her, she didn't deserve that.

After a moment he took a deep breath and opened his eyes when he let it out.

"I purified it and healed your back as well. You should be fine but you're gonna be sore for a few hours."

"Do you know how I got it this time?"

"I don't know yet, but I'm gonna find out. What did you do when you came into your room? Did you do something out of the ordinary?"

"No, I changed into my pj's and brushed my teeth as usual, then took my medicine and went to sleep. I woke up when my back started to spasm. It just got worse and worse and then you came and fixed me up."

"Did anyone come in here?"

"I'd know if anyone came in here! I'm crippled, wench, not incompetent."

"Could've fooled me," she joked, trying to ease the tension. "Look, I don't think anyone broke into the house either. I would've sensed it but then again there are some things us spiritualists can't sense, no matter how powerful we are, so it's still possible."

"Look wench, my nose is better than yours and I can guarantee you that no one has been here besides you and me."

"Okay, okay, fine. Geez, don't bite my head off." She rolled her eyes, laid down next to him with her arms tucked beneath her head and looked to the ceiling.

"So, how the fuck are we gonna figure out how I was poisoned again?"

"I can use my senses but I need complete concentration because you have one huge ass room. It could be on any surface in this room, probably somewhere you wouldn't think to find any poison."

"Okay, so are you gonna do it right now?"

"No, you need to go to sleep and you can't stay in this room. I'll place some sacred sutras around the room to prevent anyone from coming in. Which room do you want to sleep in tonight?"

"Anyone of them is fine."

"How about you stay close to mine? That way if you need anything, whether it's saving your ass again or just water, I'll reach you faster."

"Well, what if I wanna do a certain activity?" he asked suggestively.

Although Kagome knew he was joking she shifted her body to the right, leaning her head on her right hand. Her left hand was on the ground but close to her chest so that when she leaned a little to the hanyou her breasts were pushed upwards.

Lucky for her she got the response she wanted. He gasped as his eyes shifted from her eyes to her breasts which were only covered by a tank top and showed a little cleavage, just enough to make you curious. She took a deep breath and he gulped nervously.

"Maybe," she whispered. He quickly looked at her again, eyes going a little wide. "It depends on whether or not you meant it."

Inuyasha couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. He found her attractive, of that he was certain but he never thought she'd be attracted to him. He was a filthy hanyou after all.

She could see and feel him responding to her advances. She suddenly had second thoughts but decided to push her concerns to the back of her mind, she would deal with the consequences later.

She knew he was turned on, his pupils were dilated, his breathing was getting heavier and his eyes kept moving to her eyes, her lips and her breasts. Also, the fact that she was an empath she could feel everything he was feeling.

She quickly used her reiki to sense if a certain part of his anatomy was working properly. To her surprise and relief it was. It was one less thing to worry about when rehabbing.

But feeling and sensing this horny was turning her on as well, even more than this morning. She understood her gifts enough to distinguish her own feelings from other people's so she knew for certain that their attraction to each other was real. But she couldn't do this to him, he deserved someone who could give him what he wanted and she wasn't that person.

Suddenly their eyes met and she felt a deep sinking feeling. She immediately regretted what she'd done, he trusted her and she was taking advantage of it. Not to mention she could get fired if anyone found out, that is if he didn't fire her himself if he knew her reasons for turning him on.

He was about to respond but she beat him to it.

"Wait. We have to stop." She sat up quickly, scooting a little further from him and crossing her legs. She looked at his crotch and there was pretty visible bulge in his pajama pants, you'd have to be blind not to see it. She uncrossed her legs, tucked them both under her butt and squirmed as inconspicuously as possible to try to get rid of an itch she suddenly developed. Boy, things were not going the way she wanted.

When she scooted away from him he was totally confused. One minute the wench seemed as turned on as he was and the next she's keeping herself as far away as possible. Was he that repulsive that she wouldn't want him? He couldn't believe she would be such a hypocrite telling him it didn't matter he was a hanyou but didn't want to be intimate with him anyway, despite how her body reacted to him.

She was busy berating herself mentally when she noticed his feelings had changed dramatically. And when she looked at him she was met with a pair of cool eyes. He was shutting building up his walls and shutting her out.

"What's wrong? Why are you shutting me out?"

"I'm not doing anything. I don't know what you're talking about," he told her coldly.

She looked at him, trying to figure out why he was behaving this way while going back on everything that happened the last few minutes. It didn't take long to figure it out, but she could've kicked herself for taking so long to notice how she'd dealt with turning him down. She'd just been too busy sorting her own feelings out and forgot about his.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I shouldn't have done that."

He turned away from her, he couldn't look at her while she came with a pathetic excuse trying not to hurt his feelings.

"Please, look at me." When he didn't she just went on, she had to make him understand one way or another. "I can't be involved with you, Inuyasha, otherwise I could lose my job, my medical license which in turn would destroy my integrity as a miko… A lot of people depend on me, have high expectations of me and if I break the law I would lose everything I've worked for the past ten years… And also your mother might sue me."

He didn't want to listen, hell even his demon was a little restless because of how she treated him, but he did anyway. She sounded sincere and regretful, she would have to be one hell of an actress if she were lying but no matter how talented he knew she was, he didn't think she was _that_ talented. Nobody was that perfect.

He almost laughed when she mentioned his mother suing her, she was probably right. His mother was very protective of all her children, including Sessomaru, and she'd do anything for them.

They were both silent for a moment and she felt she hadn't explained herself fully yet and since it seemed like he was listening she might as well be honest with him, even if he didn't look at her.

"Look, I think it's safe to say that we're both attracted to each other. But there are other reasons for us not to get involved… I don't sleep around, I've never had a one-night stand and I never want to either. Also, I promised you I would be by your side through the entire rehabilitation and I intend to keep it. If we did make love it would be awkward working with you, knowing that we couldn't have a relationship.

"There's also the fact that you haven't been intimate with anyone since the accident and you've recently discovered that your girlfriend was not the person she pretended to be. I think it's too soon for you to start an intimate relationship with someone, especially with me because I'm not willing to be the rebound girl."

He silently took in everything she told him and no matter how much he wanted to he couldn't stay mad at her. She had some very good points and deep down he knew that she was right, but it still hurt a little. She didn't tell him she didn't want to be with him but she didn't say that she did either.

He sighed. "You're right. I guess I just miss the intimacy and things would've been awkward if we did sleep together. You're my physical therapist but also my friend and I don't want to take advantage of you."

"No! I would've been the one taking advantage of you. You're the vulnerable one, both physically as emotionally."

"I may be crippled but I ain't vulnerable, wench," he said dryly but the glint in his eyes told her he was joking.

"You could've fooled me," she muttered. "Anyway, we should go to sleep. Where's your wheelchair?"

After making sure he was safe in one of the remaining guest rooms she went to her room, got her sacred sutras and placed them in specific places in his room to keep intruders out. She also put a few in the guest room and then went to bed. Her last thoughts were about finding that son of a bitch and making him pay for hurting Inuyasha.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, I think it's been about two months since I last updated. I started on this chapter immediately after updating last time but was suddenly stuck. I hate writer's block, but then again who doesn't? Anyway, let me know what you think about this chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

**Keep holding on**

**By: Shizuko-chan13**

**Chapter 14**

The next morning, despite knowing it would be a long day, Kagome woke up bright and early. She got ready for the day before making her way to Inuyasha's bedroom. The sooner she figured out how he was poisoned again, the better.

She sat down in the middle of the room cross legged and began doing her daily breathing exercises and her meditation. Before long she began searching for any trace of miasma in the room using her reiki. This process took a little while because she did it carefully, not wanting to miss anything.

And it wasn't until she was almost done that she found the source and she could hardly believe her senses. They had poisoned his medicine! Every single one of his pills was poisoned.

She immediately went back to her room, erecting the barrier once again around his room, and called to police. This was getting out of hand, now she was positive they wanted him dead and she was briefly wondered if it was Kikyou's doing this time again or perhaps someone else entirely.

After calling the cops she woke the hanyou up. He was very reluctant at first but when she told him the police were on their way he was wide awake. She told him what she found and told him to go get ready for the day. He didn't like being ordered around but he knew that now was not the time for being difficult. He did realize, though, that he'd never seen Kagome so angry before.

The bell rang just as he was getting downstairs. Kagome didn't hesitate to open the door and led the cops to the living room.

Inuyasha was angry, he still couldn't understand why they wanted him dead. Sure, his entire life people have treated him horribly. He's been both physically and emotionally abused for years but seeing him suffer had always been enough to satisfy his tormentors. That, he understood (somewhat), but why would someone want to kill him? What would they gain? It's not like he was so important.

The detectives that were now in his living room were the same ones handling his accident and the other incident with Kikyou and Kagura. Detectives Bankotsu and Renkotsu interviewed them both when they were at the hospital and charges were filed against both women, however, nothing came of it yet because they seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet. And they still haven't got a clue as to who the driver was who drove his car into the limo.

Just as they settled in the living room the bell rang once again. The physical therapist asked Inuyasha to get the door while she quickly excused herself to go get them some much needed coffee. She knew exactly who it was at the other side of the door because she could sense him and there was no mistaking who this person was. Well, that and the fact that she called him right after calling the police.

"Sesshomaru? What are you doing here?" the hanyou asked after answering the door.

"Kagome called," he said before stepping inside.

"Why the hell would she call _you_?"

"Because I told her to call me next time something happened to you," he shrugged.

"And how did you know something was going to happen again?"

Sesshomaru sighed silently, "because let's face it Inuyasha, Kikyou was clever enough to fool you but not everyone. We all knew she was bad news from the start yet you didn't listen, though, admittedly we didn't know how bad her intentions really were. However, she is not smart enough to come up with that scheme to get all your money. She definitely had help, we just have to figure out who that person is. And since you didn't die the last couple times there are probably more attempts coming your way."

"Fan-fucking-tastic!" he muttered.

His brother just ignored him and walked away leaving him behind to follow him.

When they arrived in the living room the detectives stood up and greeted the newcomer.

Kagome reentered the room just as they all took a seat and set the tray on the coffee table.

"So, can you tell us why we're here this early in the morning?" detective Bankotsu asked.

"I called you because last night Inuyasha was poisoned once again. It was the same miasma but this time it was a much more lethal dose. I was able to purify it entirely, though, so Inuyasha's just fine now."

"Were you coincidentally or conveniently there both times his life was in danger because of the same poison, Miss Higurashi?" detective Renkotsu asked, raising one eyebrow.

"I was _luckily_ there both times, detective," she answered through gritted teeth. "Besides, that night at the restaurant we were having dinner before leaving for the clinic to perform the purification. We knew that waiting a few more hours wouldn't have any consequences. Kikyou and Kagura's attack just screwed that up when he was injured and he was losing a lot of blood so I had to do the purification sooner and a lot faster than planned."

"Okay, so when exactly did you realize Mr. Takahashi had been poisoned last night?" Bankotsu asked.

"I was woken up around three in the morning when he screamed," she lied, very few people knew she was an empath and she was sure if she wasn't Inuyasha would have started screaming eventually and woken her up anyway. "I had to break down his door to get to him and when I got to him I noticed he was in a lot of pain," she glanced at him and her eyes softened.

"I thought he was having back spasms so I carefully put him on the ground with an icepack under his back and a pillow under his knees. It's standard procedure to relieve back spasms," she explained when they looked at her quizzically.

"Then while using reiki and I sensed the miasma in his system. This time I noticed it was a more powerful dose and was in his entire bloodstream, though a lot of it was concentrated in his spine, especially around his injury. That means the miasma was attacking his nervous system, he was basically in pain from head to toe but most of the pain was around the concentrated area. I purified it but was too exhausted to figure out how he'd been poisoned. So I took him to a guest room and sealed his room with sacred sutras and went to bed. I woke up early because I couldn't really sleep but I slept enough to recharge my energy and then called you after I figured out how he was poisoned."

"Why didn't you call us before you went to bed?" Renkotsu asked a little ticked off.

"Because the poison could've been on any surface in that room or in anything he'd use or wear daily. It would take your forensic technicians too long to find where it came from, whereas I figured out the source of the miasma in less than an hour. Besides, if I had to wait for your team to finish taking samples to take to your lab it would make getting a good reading on all the items very difficult. So I took a shortcut but I needed to recharge first," she shrugged.

"And why should we take your word for it?" asked Renkotsu.

Kagome looked at them incredulously. "You're kidding me, right? I'm one of the best spiritualists in the United States and I have an outstanding record. There really isn't a reason to doubt me at all and it's really insulting, might I add."

"Okay, fine. So where did you find the miasma?" asked Bankotsu.

Her face turned serious again. "His medicine have been coated in miasma. And they're all new, I think they were delivered just yesterday because someone was having a temper tantrum the day before and threw the others away," she said looking pointedly at Inuyasha. His eyes widened in disbelief.

She turned her attention back to the detectives and sighed, "every single pill has been poisoned. I didn't touch any of it, though, I didn't want to taint any kind of evidence."

"Who took the pills when they were delivered?" asked Bankotsu.

"I don't know, I think it was Shiori, 'cause I got here a little after noon and I saw his medicine on his night table. They must've delivered them in the morning before Shiori left the house."

Renkotsu made some notes before asking if it was possible that Shiori would have something to do with the poisoning. This elicited a growl from both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru and a glare from the physical therapist.

"How dare you suggest my sister had something to do with it, you son of a bitch!" snarled Inuyasha.

Kagome held his arm, trying to calm both him and his older brother down with her reiki at the same time. He glared at the detectives for a few more moments before looking at Kagome, her eyes somehow able to calm him down a little.

"I've come to know Shiori very well these last couple of weeks," she told the detectives, "she's a sweet and very caring person. She loves her family, especially Inuyasha. They have this bond that they have with no other person. Someone like that would not try to kill her own brother. Besides there's no reason for her to kill him anyway."

"Well, I guess we can take that into consideration but we'll still have to question Miss Takahashi."

"I understand," she nodded and looked at the brothers in the corner of her eye. She could still feel their rage and doubled her effort using her reiki to try to calm them down. It helped but only a little.

"How do we know it wasn't you who poisoned the pills?" asked Renkotsu all of a sudden.

"How the fuck can you say that?" Inuyasha growled, "she would never do that! Hell, Shiori would never do that either!"

"It's okay, Inuyasha. I can handle it," she told him with a warm look before she looked back at the detectives with a cold one. "Firstly, I understand it's your job to ask these questions but I have to say I'm getting tired of your insults. It is my _job_ to help those in need, not hurt them and if you don't want to take my word for it you can go to the Board of Spiritualists. They have a record of every time I used or misused my spiritual powers. So in case you don't believe anything I'm saying, feel free to check with them. Their records don't lie.

"Secondly, I never touched that bottle, the only place that'll have my finger prints are the mini fridge, the bed, the icepack and the cabinet in the bathroom where I took out a towel.

"Thirdly, I have only limited knowledge about miasma. Everything I learned was because and through Inuyasha's case. Before that I have only heard about it once and that was almost ten years ago when my grandfather mentioned it in passing. What I learned the last couple of weeks I learned through Dr. Suikotsu's findings when testing the poison at the clinic, my own research in ancient texts and through purification. Even so, I still know very little about it.

"From what we know so far, creating such a powerful and deadly poison is very complex but also dangerous and I have never even tried to create any poison, let alone miasma. I've only made antidotes to those poisons that have one. This one doesn't have an antidote yet but now that I know it can be manipulated I'm not sure there ever will be one.

"The person you're looking for has very extensive knowledge about this poison but more importantly they have access to miasma in its purest form which they then manipulate through science and magic.

"So I hope, detectives, that what I just told you is enough to make a basic profile of whoever is doing this because pointing fingers blindly at everyone will get you nowhere. And if you don't do your jobs accordingly I'm sure the Takahashi's and myself can get you off this case easily."

"And who do you think fits this so called profile of yours?" asked Renkotsu irritated.

"I don't know, it's your job to find out, not mine. What I do know is that this person is really intelligent but also powerful, because this miasma is so complex to make and so difficult to purify, not to mention it will take years to make an antidote to only one of its variants. Besides, I don't think they're dumb enough to try to kill Inuyasha personally. Instead they use other people as his pawns, like Inuyasha's first physical therapists and Kikyou. My bet is that his latest pawn is someone with access to patients medicine, probably one of the pharmacists working at the clinic."

"That's a very… well thought theory, Miss Higurashi. We'll take it into consideration."

"Good, because my job is demanding enough, I wouldn't want to do yours as well."

They interviewed them a while longer, asking Inuyasha more questions this time since Kagome really had nothing else to say about the case. They also called crime scene technicians to comb through the entire room.

They decided not to take Kagome's advice and did everything by the book. She could understand they did it in order to create an airtight case, but it wasn't like she didn't have the credentials. She was a licensed spiritualist and she was one of the strongest ones alive today so they had no reason to doubt her.

On top of that they took Shiori to headquarters when she arrived home around 10.30 in the morning instead of interviewing her at home. No one had the chance to tell her what was going on and she was a little freaked out when they took her.

Later on in the afternoon she was finally let go after Sesshomaru got her a lawyer. They didn't have any evidence against her, not that there was any anyway so they had to let her go. Unfortunately she was still a person of interest but Kagome reassured her they would find the son of a bitch who wanted Inuyasha dead even if they had to do it themselves.

Needless to say that day sucked, everyone was in a bad mood, especially Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. Mrs. Takahashi was worried while Mr. Takahashi only told Sesshomaru to make sure everything was done correctly. He even requested to talk to Kagome. Inuyasha was against the idea and was angry when Kagome told him she would talk to him only if Mr. Takahashi came to Inuyasha's house because she didn't want to leave his patient alone.

It took a while to convince both father and son but in the end she got what she wanted.

Kagome had just finished cooking dinner when his parents arrived that night at seven. It had been a long time since the whole Takahashi family sat at dinner together without it being a formal event.

Even though the tension in the room was almost suffocating Kagome ignored it and acted like it wasn't affecting her. Inuyasha couldn't help feeling his stomach flutter everytime she laughed when talking to her mother and sister, they got along very well. Hell, even his father cracked a smile when Kagome told them about a very embarrassing experience when she was a child.

They talked about her parents, which was when Mr. Takahashi and even Sesshomaru joined the conversation. Apparently his older brother remembered meeting them a month after Kagome was born and went to visit with Izayoi, InuTaisho and Inuyasha, who was too young to remember any of it. And they all (except for Inuyasha) laughed when his parents said he became jealous that she got everyone's attention.

More stories were exchanged all throughout dinner and by dessert the tension was considerably less.

After dinner InuTaisho, Izayoi and Kagome went to the study to have that long awaited chat.

"So Kagome, would you like to tell us what you told the detectives this morning?" asked InuTaisho.

Kagome nodded and proceeded to tell them everything, she had nothing to hide. She even told them about her other lesser known ability.

"Why did you tell them Shiori was the one who got the medicine?" he asked immediately after she finished.

"Because it's the truth," she said as if it was obvious.

"But because of that my daughter is now a suspect."

"No, she's a person of interest. I'm sure they'll find enough evidence to find the real suspect. I know she didn't poison the medicine but if I lie and they find out it would ruin my credibility. As a miko I'm not allowed do that."

"You're telling me you didn't lie because you're not allowed to lie?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, but also because I don't want them to catch us in a lie. We have nothing to hide so why lie? The more they know, the better the picture they get, the sooner they can find the bastard who wants your son dead. All I care about is finding that son of a bitch so he can stop hurting Inuyasha."

"Why do you care so much about Inuyasha?" he looked intently at her.

"Because he's my patient but more importantly because he's my friend. And I won't ever tolerate anyone hurting my friends or my family," she told him with conviction.

"But you've only known him for a couple of weeks," said Izayoi after staying silent until now.

"That's true but we have this connection we don't have with other people," InuTaisho and Izayoi shared a knowing look but didn't say anything. "We understand each other in a way others don't."

"Are you sure there's nothing more than friendship between the two of you?" the older woman asked with knowing smile.

"O-Of course not," the miko stuttered. "We're _just_ friends. Besides even if I did feel anything more than friendship for him I wouldn't act upon them."

"Why? Because he's a hanyou?"

"What?! No! Why would you think that?" she asked aghast. "It's because I can't date a patient."

"So when you're done rehabilitating him you won't even consider dating him then?" Izayoi asked hopefully.

Kagome tried so hard not to blush but failed miserably and knowing this she sighed and shook her head. "No. I'm not what your son is looking for. I can't give him what he wants."

"Well, how do you know? You've only known each other for a couple of weeks."

"Izayoi dear, you're making her uncomfortable," InuTaisho sighed. "What is it with women wanting to set up their children together?" he asked no one in particular.

"Oh no, Mom's at it again?" she asked the older woman. "She always does this," Kagome complained.

"Well, all we want is for our children to be happy. Can you blame us for trying?"

"I guess not," the miko laughed.

Mr. Takahashi apologized to Kagome about the way he treated her just then, he just wanted to protect his family but he understood her reasoning for not lying and protecting her new friends. She told them if they had nothing to hide then it was better to tell the truth, lying will only get them in trouble.

Not much later they found themselves in the living room with the rest of the family. Luckily there was less tension than when the older couple arrived.

"So Inuyasha, how have you been?" asked his father tentatively.

He frowned and was about to answer him rudely when he felt someone flick his ear. He turned and glared at Kagome, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a look that told him to be nice. He sighed before turning back to his father.

"Well, I've been better, I can tell you that. But I've been okay lately," he told his father, his usual scowl in place.

InuTaishou nodded, "how's everything going with the band?"

"I'm sure you know already, you talk to Sesshomaru every day… But we're working as hard as we can considering everything that happened. We're still behind schedule though so we're trying to work as fast as we can to meet the deadline."

"Forget the deadline," he told his youngest son before turning to his eldest, "you should've pushed back the deadline ages ago Sesshomaru. You know I really don't care if they meet the original date or not, as long as they produce a good quality album."

Sesshomaru shrugged, "I thought it might motivate them more if they thought they had to meet the original deadline."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "don't worry Dad, Sessh likes being an ass, we're actually used to it by now. Besides, I know we can meet the deadline, there's no need to push it back," he looked at his older brother confidently.

Their father sighed, his children will never change. But then again they've learned to work well together despite not getting along and they're both successful so who was he to complain. Why wish for something he knew was never going to happen?

The rest of the night went fairly well, considering Sesshomaru actually made conversation with everyone, even Inuyasha but it mostly entailed work. When he talked to Shiori everyone in the room could see he had a soft spot for his sister, which came as a surprise to Kagome. She thought Sesshomaryu didn't like the fact he had hanyou half-siblings but apparently he didn't. He just didn't get along with Inuyasha. The miko even felt how much he cared about his step-mother, which was a lot more than she had expected, though, Kagome wisely decided to keep everything to herself for now.

She got along great with Izayoi and Shiori, the young hanyou even told her she did the right thing by not lying. They police would've found her fingerprints on the bottle anyway, she was just worried that someone was trying to frame them. Hell, even the police suspected Kagome but that didn't faze her in the least.

Inuyasha had a hard time keeping his feelings bottled up but he somehow pulled it off. Nobody but Kagome noticed how uncomfortable he felt around his father but she knew he had to face the music sooner or later and start mending the broken relationship with him. And even though tonight was difficult for him, she had a feeling things would turn out okay eventually.

Sesshomaru, Izayoi and InuTaishou left just before 9 PM. Inuyasha, needing to relax himself went to the studio, while Kagome and Shiori cleaned up the kitchen. They talked about what they did the day before. She learned the girls went shopping, got manicures and pedicures and went out at night. Kagome informed her about Sunday brunch with the gang and her parents. Shiori even volunteered to help her and her mother to cook. She even said she'd ask the girls to come help as well.

The rest of the night was more relaxed than before, Kagome even managed to convince Inuyasha to let her heal him again to compensate for not having taken his meds and skipping physical therapy today. She would go get his new meds tomorrow personally to see if he would get contaminated medication again. Maybe she could catch them red-handed but she had a feeling that wasn't going to happen. Whoever wanted Inuyasha dead wasn't stupid and had made sure to cover their tracks very well.

* * *

The days passed with nothing much out of the ordinary going on. In the morning (much to Inuyasha's annoyance) they would work on his rehab. The guys came around lunchtime (they discovered Kagome's cooking) and worked on their album until dinnertime. After dinner they would either hang out or the guys would leave and do their own thing.

The gang left early on Friday so they could go out at night, although sans Kagome and Inuyasha because he didn't want to go out in a wheelchair and she didn't want to leave him alone. He insisted on her going but she didn't relent. He finally gave up after half an hour and went to his room without having dinner, telling her to leave him alone for the rest of the night.

She thought his behavior was a little strange but decided not to dwell on it and proceeded to make dinner. She sharpened her senses when she happened to check on him and realized his energy was a little off. It was almost insignificant but with all the murder attempts on him she didn't want to risk letting her guard down.

The house was quiet, a little too quiet for her taste so she decided to go get her guitar upstairs. While going up the stairs she got a nice view of the sun that was currently setting from the large windows. Smiling to herself, she took the time to appreciate something so simple yet so beautiful.

She stood there at the top of the stairs until she couldn't see the sun anymore, though the sun hadn't finished setting yet. She sighed and walked the few steps remaining to her room. She had just entered when she sensed Inuyasha's energy pulse and then disappear.

Or at least that's what she thought until she went to his door and checked again before realizing he was still there but his energy felt off, like it was missing something. It didn't take her long to notice his energy didn't contain demonic energy anymore. She sighed in relief, he just gave her the fright of her life and this thought made her angry.

She banged on the door, she didn't even try to see if it was open, knowing that it probably wasn't. She got no answer but she continued banging and yelling that she was not leaving until he opened the door.

Finally after ten minutes of banging Inuyasha swung the door open, a deep scowl on his face.

"What do you want wench? Can't you understand I want to be alone?" a dark haired, violet eyed Inuyasha yelled.

"You should've told me you would turn human tonight!" she yelled back. "You scared the shit out of me, you know? I thought something bad had happened to you when your energy disappeared."

They both stood there, Kagome panting because she was overwhelmed and she had just finished yelling. Inuyasha's scowl softened just a bit, but it was more than enough for even her to notice.

"Do the guys know?" she asked a few moments later.

"Of course they know, I've known them for more than a decade."

"Even the girls?"

"Yeah, though they found out eventually."

"So this is how you normally spend your human nights? … Alone?"

"Yeah, so what?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Go put your shoes on, we're going out."

"I'm not going anywhere, wench, least of all in this weak, crippled human body," he glared.

Narrowing her eyes, she crossed her arms and stepped as close to him as she could get. He had to look up at her when she came so close but his glare was held in place.

"We're going out even if I have to drag you out of the house. Now. Get. Your. Shoes. On. We leave in five minutes."

With that she turned around and entered her room.

Inuyasha sat there looking at her disappear into her room. He took a deep breath trying to dispel his current thoughts about his physical therapist. It was sad to say he found her display of dominance a complete turn on.

This made him feel both confused and ashamed, they had agreed that nothing was going to happen between them and here he was going back on his word. That's why he hated being human, the feelings he could easily suppress in his hanyou form were now even more intense than before.

Knowing he had no other choice he put on his shoes and went downstairs where Kagome was waiting for him. In no time they were on the road. Inuyasha didn't ask where they were going, he was still trying to suppress those blasted feelings that just didn't want to go away.

He didn't know how long they had been driving when she suddenly turned off the engine. He quickly snapped out of his thoughts and looked out the window.

Although it was starting to get really dark he could see they were at a park. He frowned, wondering what the hell she was thinking by bringing him to a public place.

He turned to her, raising an eyebrow, silently asking what they were doing there. She shrugged.

"I just had a feeling to get out of the house and then I just went wherever the universe was telling me to go."

"Riiiight…"

Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes. "How about we just go take a walk… well you know what I mean," she said when he looked at her pointedly. "We might as well since we're already here."

"Keh, whatever," he replied and made a move to get his wheelchair.

The park was nice, there were still some people hanging out here and there but not a lot, it was getting late after all.

They walked in a comfortable silence, neither feeling the need to talk. Kagome suddenly felt someone in pain but it was a little far so she took off in the direction she felt it coming from.

Inuyasha noticed immediately something was up when she suddenly took off, he called out to her, asking where she was going but she either didn't hear him or was ignoring him. Whatever the cause he took off after her as well, only at a slower pace because the softer ground caused more drag than the hard surface of the concrete path they had been walking on.

He lost sight of her after she turned behind a patch of trees. When he rounded the same patch she was nowhere to be found. He looked between the trees, trying to see in the semi-darkness if she went in there.

Kagome was a caring person by nature so the moment she sensed someone in pain she went to see what she could do. The closer she got, though, the more she realized it wasn't a person she was looking for but an animal, probably someone's pet.

She picked up her speed, knowing that the poor animal must be scared, being all alone and hurt. She made her way into the trees, relying completely on her senses to get her to the poor animal.

When she reached it she realized it was a dog, a pup actually, but it looked worse for wear. It was all bruised and bloody. The many cuts she knew it had were almost invisible by all the blood dirtying it's fur.

She approached the pup carefully, sensing that the dog was still conscious and that it didn't trust her. She took one careful step after the other, calming her energy so that the dog would let her close to it. The pup growled softly at her in warning and she stopped approaching for a moment before taking a deep breath to calm herself once again. She sensed the dog was too tired and hurt to do something to her but you never know. Moving forward once again, she could see more clearly how injured it was but most importantly she sensed how much the pup was hurting. She was upset at whoever did this but right now it was not helping her getting close to the dog.

She took another step when she felt the pup's anxiety lessen. She kneeled in front of it before putting her hand in front of its snout so the dog could smell her. She saw the dog physically relax before licking her hand and she took it as a sign that it trusted her. So she immediately set out to figure out what was wrong with it.

The first thing she noticed was that the dog was female. She had many cuts but had more bruises, some fractured bones, a few ribs and her front left leg. On top of that the dog was malnourished. Kagome knew the dog could make it but she had to act fast and take her to a vet. She didn't want to heal the cuts just yet, they were too dirty to heal properly at the moment without her getting an infection later on. What she did instead was use her reiki to take away the pain and until the dog fell asleep.

She took off her cardigan and wrapped the dog carefully before lifting her up and making her way back to the car. She was so focused in finding the dog and then taking care of her that she had completely forgotten about the hanyou (turned human for the night) until she was startled by his voice.

"Oi, wench! Where the hell did you go?" he yelled when he finally saw her coming back with something wrapped in her cardigan.

"Uh, I sensed someone in pain and I followed it until I found her. She's been badly beaten and we have to take her to a vet right now if she's going to make it," she replied, walking faster the closer she came to the edge of the patch of trees.

"Is that a dog?" he asked when she finally reached him, though she didn't stop for a second and he followed her as best as he could.

"Yes, it's very young though, practically still a pup."

Inuyasha didn't say anything in return. He was pissed off, he hated animal cruelty but when it came to dogs it was like hurting his own family.

Kagome waited until he was in his seat before carefully placing the pup in his lap. She then put his wheelchair in the back for him and quickly made her way behind the wheel and raced to the nearest vet.

However, finding a vet nearby proved to be harder than they thought. So Kagome called a colleague whose sister was a vet and after getting the address she drove as fast as she could to get there.

She parked crookedly in front of the building, but then again that was the last thing on her mind. She retrieved the pup from Inuyasha and made her way to the door. But before she reached the door it flew open revealing a pretty blonde woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties.

"Are you Kagome?" she asked.

"Yes, you must be Melissa, it's nice to meet you," she smiled politely before looking at Inuyasha who was getting into his wheelchair. "That's Inuyasha and this is your patient," she said looking at the pup in her arms.

"Okay, let's take him inside." She held the door open for them both to enter and then led them to a room. "Put him on the table."

"She's a girl," Kagome told her.

"Okay. When did she pass out?" she asked while putting on gloves and getting the instruments she'd need.

"I'm a spiritualist, I used enough reiki to take away the pain and make her fall asleep. I don't really know how long she's been in the park, hurt like this and I didn't want her to feel any more pain while bringing her here."

"Okay, let's see what we've got here then."

Melissa ordered them both outside but Kagome asked to stay to help in case she needed it. She was about to refuse but when she saw how badly the pup looked she accepted. She knew another pair of hands would be very helpful, especially because it was nighttime and her assistants had already left for the day.

"It seems she's a half Labrador, half Golden Retriever but I'll take a blood sample to make sure. It's important to know if she was bred by a reputable breeder or not. She could be from a puppy mill and my gut is leaning towards that because no reputable breeder would let a puppy come to harm like this."

"If she comes from a puppy mill and escaped then it mustn't be far from the park where we found her, she couldn't have walked far with her injuries. We'll go check it out tomorrow and let you know if we find something."

"Good, I don't like irresponsible breeders. Their crossbreds tend to have unstable temperaments including behavioral issues, aggression and genetic faults and I've put down too many dogs because of that. But let's hope this one is fine."

"So, you're a nurse at the clinic too?" Melissa asked after working for a while in silence.

"No, I'm a physical therapist but I'm working together with Dr. Suikotsu on a new program using spiritualists as healers."

"Oh, really? It's not really common anymore for spiritualists to be healers, is it?"

"Well, we're basically trained to help anyone in any way we can. But because of an increase in the demon population these last few decades more and more spiritualists use their powers to fight those who go against the law. However, I felt the need to care for people, whether they're human, demon or hanyou…even pets like this little one."

"I can see you're a very caring person," she told Kagome with a smile. "I feel the same, but I chose this profession because animals don't get the attention they deserve…So who's your friend out there?"

"Uh…that's Inuyasha. I'm actually his physical therapist, but I guess we're friends now too."

"Inuyasha? As in Inuyasha Takahashi?" she asked wide eyed. Kagome nodded. "I thought he was a half-demon but he looks human."

This caught Kagome off guard. She had forgotten that he was human and that nobody was supposed to know when he turns human, namely tonight, so she said the first thing that came to mind. "He's using a concealment spell I created for him. He didn't want to leave the house tonight but I managed to convince him after I concealed his most prominent features, that way no one really recognizes him."

What she said wasn't a complete lie, though, she could've done that if he was a hanyou tonight.

"Wow, what can't you do?"

'Find the person who's trying to kill Inuyasha,' she thought to herself. She knew it was a rhetorical question but she offered for a smile and a shrug in response. Besides, the answer to that question wasn't any of her business anyway.

They worked quietly after that, only talking when Melissa gave her instructions.

"Well, now we just have to wait and see if she makes it through the night," Melissa said after finishing up.

"Can I try to heal her? At least partially, I don't like to mess with the healing system unless it's necessary. I don't want the body to become dependent on the fast healing of reiki. I just want to heal her bones, those take a long time to heal and I want her to be healthy as soon as possible."

"Sure, I have to say I was hoping you'd show me the moment you said you are a spiritualist."

Kagome smiled and closed her eyes. Taking a deep cleansing breath she put her hands on the bandaged body of the pup and channeled the energy around her into the pet and started the healing process.

She had a lot of fractured bones but Kagome didn't really need to see the x-rays Melissa had taken to know where they were, however, they did help because she spared a little energy in trying to find them one by one.

Because she was so little it took her only twenty minutes to heal her bones. They would still feel tender but she wouldn't have much trouble moving around now. Melissa took new x-rays to see how well she healed them. She was astounded at how nicely they healed, it was as if the pup had week's worth of healing instead of the twenty minutes it took.

"Can we take him home? She doesn't have a collar so we don't know for sure if she's just missing yet. I'd feel better if I was near her in case anything happens," Kagome asked when she was finished.

"I guess that would be okay, but you'd have to bring her in tomorrow morning for a check-up. Be careful when she wakes up, she could be aggressive but I'll give you my number just in case anything happens tonight."

"Great, thanks," Kagome smiled brightly.

With that said they went to get the bills sorted out. Melissa had really enjoyed having Kagome help her and she wanted to give her a discount. Kagome, however, refused saying she was working overtime and not everyone would've been as helpful as she had been.

After bidding the vet a good night they went home. Inuyasha held the pup protectively, something Kagome had not seen him do in the little time they knew each other. She decided not to comment yet, from the little she had noticed tonight he seemed to show more emotions than usual, not that he was more emotional altogether.

After setting up the dog on her bed, which was big enough for both of them, she went with Inuyasha downstairs. She needed to keep busy and decided a snack would be good, besides Inuyasha hadn't had dinner tonight yet and knowing his appetite he must be starving.

"Are you okay, Inuyasha?" she asked while looking in the fridge for something to eat or to cook.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, you seem more emotional tonight. Is it because of the pup or because of something else?"

"You're imagining things."

"I know I'm not and you know I respect your privacy so I won't ask anymore. I just thought you trusted me enough to tell me."

Inuyasha sighed, "you like making me feel guilty, don't you?"

Kagome shrugged, knowing if she lied he'd know.

"Fine, I'm more emotional when I turn human. There! You happy now? I just hate it. Thank God it's only once a month and only lasts from sunset to sunrise. And even that is too much already."

"What's wrong with being human? I'm human."

"Yes, but you're a gifted human. You can defend yourself, I'm weak when I'm human. I already feel weak enough as it is being a hanyou, being human feels a lot worse."

Kagome was surprised, he just told her exactly what he felt and she didn't even have to ask him twice. It was obvious now that he expresses his emotions a lot easier when he's human.

"Don't underestimate yourself, you're probably a lot stronger than ordinary humans right now." He only snorted and rolled his eyes. "Man, those people really did a number on you, didn't they?"

He didn't need to ask who she meant, he already knew. And she was right, but he wasn't going to tell her that. However, his silence was more than any answer he could give her.

She walked from the microwave to sit next to him at the table. She took hold of his hand that was on the table and held it tightly. She waited for him to look at her before she spoke.

"You're not weak, Inuyasha. And what does it matter if you're a human or a hanyou or a youkai? That shouldn't determine whether you're weak or strong, it's what's in your heart, mind and soul. You are an amazing person, Inuyasha. You are caring –and don't even try to deny it 'cause you can't fool an empath," she added before he could say something. "You're loyal, you're trustworthy and you're selfless – I know you'd do anything for your friends and family. And those are only some of the qualities that make you strong. You probably don't believe me now, but I'll tell you everyday if I have to until you believe it yourself."

He didn't say anything, he only stared at her and she stared right back. After a long moment he squeezed her hand and she smiled before letting go and standing up.

She took the plate of leftover food that had finished reheating and set it in front of him, ordering him to eat since he didn't have dinner yet. She herself ate some cereal, it was getting too late to eat anything heavier.

They ate in a comfortable silence. When they finished Kagome put everything in the dishwasher and they made their way upstairs, or that's what she thought at least until she saw him make his way somewhere else.

"Where are you going? Aren't you going to sleep?"

"I don't sleep on the night of the New Moon. I've learned my lesson, if I'm awake I can see them coming and they can't to hurt me."

"Do you trust me?"

"You know I do."

"Then trust me when I tell you nothing's going happen tonight. I've had my barriers up since the moment we stepped inside. I'll know the moment anyone trespasses on your property and I can take care of them before you even know somebody's here."

Inuyasha sighed, "I don't doubt you can do all that but I feel better knowing I can see danger coming while I'm…vulnerable," he said this last word with obvious disdain.

Kagome looked at him for a moment before nodding. She couldn't expect him to change overnight. He's probably been doing this for years, most likely since his abuse began. But the fact that he trusted her and her abilities meant there was hope that things could someday change.

"I'll see you tomorrow then. We'll do our session in the afternoon. I'll take the dog to the vet in the morning while you sleep for a few hours."

"Thanks, though I can function pretty well without sleep while I'm a hanyou."

"Just get some rest in the morning. Good night."

"Night," he replied and watched her go upstairs.

He sighed and went to the recording studio. It was best to keep himself busy otherwise he'd fall asleep. But then again he felt inspiration hit him so that wasn't going to be a problem.

The one problem he was facing now was those feelings he got whenever he was near his physical therapist or even sometimes when just thinking about her. Especially now because he can't push them aside like he usually did. He knew it was unethical and he was probably just trying to forget his feelings for Kikyou, however, a small part of him still thought he wasn't. That his these feelings had nothing to do with his ex-girlfriend.

He'd just never met anyone like her before, she was certainly unique. She's an amazing person who doesn't pretend to be someone she's not, what you see is what you get. He never really liked people meddling in his affairs but there's just something about Kagome that he can't hate her when she does it. If he had to guess he'd say it was because unlike everyone else she really doesn't want anything in return from the people she helps, she's just a genuine caring person. And he loved that about her.

It's not like that trait made her naïve either, she knows who she can and can't trust. Not to mention she's very careful about what she says and does, making sure people feel comfortable around her. If she made his world this great knowing her only for a couple of weeks, imagine what it would be like if there were more people like her the world, it would probably be a better place.

Sighing he picked up his guitar and did what he did best, making music.

* * *

**A/N: Hi guys! I'm sorry it took me so long to update. Writer's block sucks. I've been writing other stories too (none of which I've finished or published) in order to get over my writer's block but this chapter didn't come together until this past week and I spent last night editing it somewhat. I was fed up after reading it for the fourth or fifth time (I forget). I'm sure I missed a lot of things but I wanted to update so bad that I decided to post it anyway so if it sucks, I'm sorry and I'll try to do better next time. If you liked it, let me know ;).**

**I'm not sure when I'll update next, that's why this chapter is so long. I haven't even started the next one yet. Let's just hope I update faster next time.**

**Grtz, JJ**


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